T̵H̵̛̕E̵̴ ͘҉͟T͠HÍ̛RD ̨͢I̛͞N̵͏V̡EŚ̡T҉̶̕I͟͞ĢA̵͞T̸I͟ÒN̶

[strangerpeople]

Ţ̷H͠E̕͜͝ ̛T̡͏̀HI͜͢R̨̨͟D̴̡͏ ̀͟I̶͡NV̕͝È̷͜S̴T̡I̵͞G̶̕A҉T́͡ION҉͏̷

[Good morning again. It's Friday, and you know what that means.

Maybe people should start looking to see if anyone's taken Kyuubey at face value.]

Comments

[comesaround]

[ He's going to go over to these masses. What state are they in? ]

[strangerpeople]

[...Very much not moving. Nor are they responding to anyone's movements or sounds.]

[relieable]

[how many masses are there?]

[strangerpeople]

[Two.]

[relieable]

[okay. so there is one body, and it's Vita. is the other mass a body? if so... whomst?]

[strangerpeople]

[Not only is it, indeed, another body, but maybe it's appropriate as well that he would follow her in death.


Jonathan Morris, The Double, is dead.]

[relieable]

[yikes. okay. so someone burned the married couple? that is awful. he looks absolutely ill, almost pale]

J-Jonathan.

[comesaround]

It was bad enough when it was just her... but what the hell is this?

[ He's in shock, but also just dumbfounded because okay not expecting a goddamn double murder. Plus he kinda liked them both decently. ]

cw: hand injury

[katzenpfote]

[He spots the other body and runs over, pushing away any hands on him.]

N... not him too... I p... promised to protect h... him... if only f... for Charlotte...

[He looks closer, and there’s a pause before blue fire erupts down his arm as he slams it into the ground. Frost forms where he punches and he doe it again. And again. And again. He doesn’t even stop once blood starts appearing and freezing on the floor.]

[unwittingking]

[He's thrown a bit by getting pushed away, but seeing the second body, and Caleb's reaction...he feels his stomach drop.

He goes to try and grab Caleb's arm, trying to hold him back, even if he starts getting frozen a bit.]

Caleb-Caleb, stop! Please stop!

[comesaround]

[ His eyes widened at this and immediately he moved over to grab that arm before it can hit the ground again. His grip firm and unwavering. ]

There's nothing we can do now but find the one who killed them. Hurting yourself isn't going to bring them back or do any good.

[relieable]

[at this point, Osomatsu is thinking their wrist screens might go off, but they haven't yet. so he gulps]

I don't know if we're done, yet...

[comesaround]

I sure as hell hope we are. I don't know how well everyone's going to be doing if there's a third body.

[ Caleb's a bit of a mess now, as seen, so that's kind of a thing. ]

[relieable]

...I'm just gonna check other places, to make sure. Make sure Caleb doesn't hurt himself.

[uh. he already did]

[incendiarize]

[Arthur is.....keeping his cool, actually. He's upset, he's sad, but he's level and calm.]

Caleb. [He grabs for the wizard's hand.] The most we can do now is figure out what happened. We do this, we get through this, and we keep fighting.

We know the dead are just....somewhere else, we saw them. Which means we can get them back. Focus on the future, I know it's easier said than done but it's what we've got right now!

[katzenpfote]

[He straightens up a bit and looks between King and Karma, teeth clenched and tears already falling.]

I failed her! How can you be so calm? Especially you, King?!

[His breathing is heavy, gaze settling not on those in front of him but some point of floor nearby. He finally looks at Arthur, flames settling down to just along his arm and not his hand.]

...How can I... how can I focus on the future when this place keeps pulling from my past...

[He trails off as his form slumps to the tile, flames completely out.]

[unwittingking]

I'm not calm! I'm hating every second of this and wi-wanting it to be different, that he wasn't here right now! That they were both alive and fine!

But that's not going to happen, and all we can do right now is figure out what happened and make things right! And panicking and isn't going to help!

[He's close to tears at this point, having to wipe them away hastily to keep his vision from getting blurry. This is too much...]

Please, can we just...leave the room for a minute? Please?

[incendiarize]

[If he's stopped punching... Arthur carefully - slowly, so as to telegraph what he's doing and not startle him, wraps his arms around Caleb. He's steady, and his voice is quiet.]

I'm calm because it's pulling from my past, too. About ten years ago, I woke up in a burning pile of rubble with no memories. It wasn't just that building, either, the entire town was leveled. The first world I ever knew was hell on Earth.

That's why I focus on the future. There's nothing me or anyone else can do to save Gotham, and my memories aren't coming back. There's nowhere to go but forward.

[He gets it, he really does, but he's come a long way. And maybe now he can help. Maybe he can't. He'll try, either way.]

[katzenpfote]

[He’s trying hard to focus, totally drained. He puts a hand on Arthur’s back and pulls him tighter.]

Nott is going to give me hell for semi-adopting more teenagers.

[His voice is weak, but it’s there.]

[unwittingking]

[King actually laughs at that. It's incredibly forced, and everyone should be able to tell, but like Caleb's voice, it's there.]

You think you're the only one? Bailey and everyone else I know is going to be asking forever about how I got close to so many humans.

[Let alone enough that he feels fatherly toward some of them.]

[katzenpfote]

... I.. I didn’t have siblings. Maybe for the best. But for what it’s worth, I’d want them to be like you.

[unwittingking]

I...don't have any either, so the feelings are mutual.

[It feels weird saying that, but not because it's lie; it's more true than he may have expected. Just odd, saying it to a human.]

[otherworldlyking]

[ Late to the party, apparently.

And wow those were definitely two certain people dead. Well, he's...actually got nothing to say. But, he's here and that's probably what matters.

He'll glance over when Caleb falls over though. ]