strangerpeople: (Default)
The Fifteen Strangers Mods ([personal profile] strangerpeople) wrote in [community profile] 15strangers2023-07-13 12:13 pm

THE FOURTH INVESTIGATION

THE FOURTH INVESTIGATION
(~SK. 24)




[Morning, Strangers! There's no sun shining, there're no birds singing, the threat of memory loss hangs in the air, and--oh.




That sure is a trail of blood in the D Deck hallway where the bedrooms are. But. I'm sure it's nothing, right?








Right??????!!?]
yesorwoof: (Quiet)

[personal profile] yesorwoof 2023-07-14 04:22 pm (UTC)(link)
[The door to Makima and Akane's assigned room is closed.]
exequte: (I had to be careful)

[personal profile] exequte 2023-07-14 04:25 pm (UTC)(link)
[Well, that seems normal, but since she can open it, she'll still stop by to peek inside. Just in case.]

M-Makima...?
yesorwoof: (Nice)

[personal profile] yesorwoof 2023-07-14 04:27 pm (UTC)(link)
[Makima is absent.

This isn't inconceivable either, particularly after that one conversation of theirs, but. Hm.]
exequte: (HOW many timelines?)

[personal profile] exequte 2023-07-14 04:31 pm (UTC)(link)
Huh?? Oh, no...!

[that seems Concerning. Hopefully she just was spending the night elsewhere.]
yesorwoof: (Eager)

[personal profile] yesorwoof 2023-07-14 04:40 pm (UTC)(link)
[Well. Let's see. If Makima is alive, she'd probably be in some kind of bed. But there's no sign of her in the cabins here, the infirmary is... that... and the first-class cabin is occupied so often.

What's the next best option?]
Edited 2023-07-14 16:41 (UTC)
exequte: (guess it's up to me to get us out)

[personal profile] exequte 2023-07-14 05:02 pm (UTC)(link)
[Well, hm. It seems a little odd, maybe, that she'd sleep in an unlocked room, but....

There are beds in the hospital room. And maybe she'd been feeling sick and not wanted to stay in the infirmary? That was a more obvious choice.... it could be easier to hide with that many beds.

So, with a glance around her at all the blood, she sets off towards the hospital room, still feeling sick. Her fever is back.]
yesorwoof: (Pondering)

cw blood, violence

[personal profile] yesorwoof 2023-07-14 05:04 pm (UTC)(link)
[When you come into the hospital room, you see a mess. Almost all of the brittle little beds have been shoved out of their orderly grids, or even knocked over. Sprays of blood mar these areas at any which angle. Towards the east side of the room, there's even a patch knocked over in a half circle, as if by a single sweep of a large machine. In the back of the room is a small, denser puddle of blood. And to the west side of the room... near the wall... are two figures.

On your way to them, you might step on a lego. There are several. Actually, they're gears. Perhaps familiar.

The one standing is in a long black coat, the unmistakable silhouette of the Public Safety uniform - Makima. Though a whiteness dusts her uniform like snow. Looking closer, rough gashes have been hewn into the baggy black fabric, so that the white dress shirt peeks through. Makima's right side has a little more blood around where her arm disappears into her pocket. For the most part, though, she seems to be entirely untouched. Her left hand, its bracelet displaying an amaranth "5", is untouched and holds a whip. There is a naginata on the second nearest bed, which has knocked away a cluster of gears.

Kira, meanwhile, is on the floor. The single nearest bedframe has a tiny red spot on its hard corner that must be the source of a generously bleeding cut on his temple. A rapier through his left hand, a glaive in the right forearm, a javelin through the trousers of the right calf, and forming a bar floating over his left ankle, the Chainsaw Man red version of Makima's trademark sword. His jacket and pants are shredded and stained as if wounds such as these have been repeated multiple times, though they're shallow wounds left by carefully angled thin blades. There's also a small jabbed wound around his collarbone. His face is covered in whip marks that have been left over the course of hours. Though his exhausted panting shows that he is also definitely still alive.

Floating immediately in front of and behind Makima's torso are the pair of buzzsaws. ….Just what the hell happened in here?!

Makima says,]
Still? Are you really sure about this?
exequte: (I had to be careful)

[personal profile] exequte 2023-07-14 05:09 pm (UTC)(link)
M-Makima...?
onychomance: (For cars she couldn't care less)

[personal profile] onychomance 2023-07-14 05:34 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm ... a patient man... the instant you slip-

[Kira is breathing heavily from the pain as Makima has him pinned down like a bug. The penetrated hand transforms into a wheel, knocking the rapier away. His buzzsaws stay floating, keeping Makima in place. Though it doesn't seem to affect her weapon range.

When Akane shows up though, he groans. His engine is roaring. It's all so very loud and disturbing.]


Akane... run away... that woman is mad!!
Edited 2023-07-14 17:42 (UTC)
yesorwoof: (Affection)

[personal profile] yesorwoof 2023-07-14 05:57 pm (UTC)(link)
Good morning, Akane-chan. It's morning by now, isn't it?

[Makima's lips turn up into a sweet smile. She's not breathing heavily - does she ever? it might if anything be a little shallow? - but her face is distinctly pale. She does not turn her head in the third person's direction. Her eyes are trained on the rapier as she telekinetically lifts it back up and pins it through the spokes of the wheel.]

It's a bit of a long story, but Kira and I have been at it all night.

[She summons the teal sword, the one that had been familiar from the start, to hover over his face. She unsummons the whip in her left hand. She extends this left hand to Akane.]

Cover my bracelet with your hand and take me out on your ice. [Has she heard about how the Infinite's power functions in a duo? Regardless, she's in a rough state, so maybe just being dragged along the ice is fun.] Then he and I will be separated, and we can get on with the investigation. It's a shame that something has happened. Though I'm afraid I haven't had even a spare moment to check my bracelet.
exequte: (its happening again!)

[personal profile] exequte 2023-07-14 08:29 pm (UTC)(link)
... huh???

Is he-

Are you-

All right???

[She takes a faltering step closer in the general direction of the pair, generally, shying slightly away from actually approaching either of them because. Wtf wtf wtf]
onychomance: (Then momentarily out of action)

I'm so sorry Akane. cw attempted self harm

[personal profile] onychomance 2023-07-14 08:42 pm (UTC)(link)
Didn't you hear me?!

[Kira growls. That doesn't look like running.

Though Makima's sword is right in his face, he smirks for a second - like he said, a slip! - and lifts his head directly to it.]

yesorwoof: (Smug)

cw self harm attempt partly succeeding

[personal profile] yesorwoof 2023-07-14 09:08 pm (UTC)(link)
Chansu.

[The sword slices open his forehead, entire contacted length stained with blood, and in the next second it vanishes. Makima is running as fast as her untouched legs will take her. She passes in front of Akane, left hand extended.]

There's only a little time.

[Now, with or without company, she's two more bed lengths away.]

He'll be able to unpin himself.
exequte: (no we canNOT stop early)

[personal profile] exequte 2023-07-14 09:35 pm (UTC)(link)
Huh???

[And Akane has decided that enough is enough. She lifts a foot and stamps it down, hard and deliberate, and frost immediately begins to race out from her, blooming out in a sudden rush. Makima is running, and Akane does not especially want her to trip, though the floor below her may still grow slick. Kira, however, will find himself pinned to the floor by ice engulfing the stray fabric of his clothing, his hair, not encasing flesh because she does not particularly want frostburn to be too great a risk, but he won't be moving anywhere for now.]

What is going on???
onychomance: (And another 1 gone and another 1 gone)

[personal profile] onychomance 2023-07-14 10:50 pm (UTC)(link)
[The cut is too shallow, and the motion obviously distracted him enough not to control his buzzsaws. Kira lets his head drop to the ground in frustration, though they're still buzzing away, he's not chasing either of the women with them now. Now the ice is coming for him and it's fucking cold. Kira looks really freaked out.]

God DAMMIT!!

[Makima's swords are gone. His motor is still running very loudly. ブオオ....! The tiny gears on the floor spin furiously in an attempt to throw off the oncoming ice, and he rushes the saws back to his side to try and summon the motorcycle beneath him before it catches him. Just like when he and Akane met, he just wants to run away now. He is definitely not calm enough to explain anything.]

Edited 2023-07-14 22:50 (UTC)
yesorwoof: (Dark)

[personal profile] yesorwoof 2023-07-14 11:10 pm (UTC)(link)
[Makima catches herself on one of the strewn beds, which is not the most dignified pose in the universe but beats getting a concussion. With her left arm, she props herself up on the bed. She takes in the situation. The most important visual change is that Kira has gone into motorcycle mode. Her eyebrows rise triumphantly. She lets out a breath, from all the lunging. There was something she'd said to Kira that first night they spent together. She's thinking it again. In the next moment, she turns to Akane, which strains her neck even more but sacrifices must be made.]

Kira and I have been occasionally hanging out.

[BEAR WITH HER, AKANE.]

This was a somewhat bad decision, as tonight he got it into his head that he wanted to ensure that I was the only one who would permanently die. That is why our battle lasted so long.
Edited 2023-07-14 23:13 (UTC)
exequte: (no we canNOT stop early)

[personal profile] exequte 2023-07-14 11:36 pm (UTC)(link)
[Kira is going to have to worry about sharp little chips of ice flying at him at this rate, because the harder he fights, the more the ice is going to grow, freezing over the gears and the buzzsaws with a slow relentless insistence and rising up around his body. The temperature is also notably dropping.]

Dying is permanent for most people, I don't know why he thought he could kill you in some different way that would make it even more permanent.

Is that what happened, Mr. Kira?
onychomance: (Without you when you're gone)

[personal profile] onychomance 2023-07-15 12:25 am (UTC)(link)
[A little bit of ice chip would be unlikely to deter Yoshikage Kira after all of the much worse damage he's taken tonight. Still, it looks like he can't spin through her ice, so he resigns and desummons everything in a broad and imprecise stroke. The buzzsaws vanish, and the tiny gears all over the floor revert to their original form, his nail clippings. He shivers, overtaken with the cold, his teeth chatter as he stares at Makima with a defeated look. What a terrifying woman.]

You... misunderstand. I have the ... Gold Orb. Revival. If... if Makima k-killed me... she would be the only one to permanently die.

That is why... M-Makima doesn't have a scratch. I admit to nothing... but I refuse to ... to be named guilty in some shitty kangaroo court...
yesorwoof: (Friend)

[personal profile] yesorwoof 2023-07-15 01:23 am (UTC)(link)
[Makima sits up. She runs her left hand over her right coatsleeve, with its many gashes.]

Death comes for us all, especially Devil Hunters. But certainly, this Gold Orb is what Kira believed in. That is why he fell up into my sword at that last moment. I hope this can explain our actions.

[She stands.]

It's not a scratch per se, no. But we'll see everyone's wounds soon enough at the trial. I think that's the best option we have. Thank you very much for all your help, Akane-chan.
exequte: (or are you saying there's evidence?)

[personal profile] exequte 2023-07-15 01:34 am (UTC)(link)
No, it doesn't!

Why would either of you be trying to kill each other anyway? I thought you didn't even care about this motive!

[Now that Kira is behaving, the temperature stops dropping, the ice stops encroaching. Perhaps it even begins to retreat, evaporating off as though sublimating, though not enough to free him yet.]
onychomance: (An other one bites the dust)

[personal profile] onychomance 2023-07-15 03:26 am (UTC)(link)
No, it had nothing to do with that.

Our motives were... complex.
yesorwoof: (Quiet)

[personal profile] yesorwoof 2023-07-15 03:51 am (UTC)(link)
I was defending myself. No matter which way I ran, the buzzsaws trapped me again. I kept trying to stun him enough that I could leave. That's what the whip was for. But he endured.

...When we would hang out, it really wasn't usually like this. Now, I know that Yoshikage Kira is a peculiar man who developed the desire to live on in a world where I lie dead. You'd really have to interview him and write a book.

[Makima is still very pale.]
exequte: (oh gosh this is gonna take forever)

[personal profile] exequte 2023-07-15 04:01 am (UTC)(link)
[It has been a whole week in the past five minutes]

No, your motives were stupid. You'd go to trial regardless of what you killed her for, you know.

But everyone is still alive, at least....

Well...

Almost everyone, I guess.

[IT HAS BEEN SUCH A LONG WEEK PLEASE SHE JUST WANTS TO GO BACK TO BED.]

Makima, are you all right? You're so pale....

[Akane is finally going to check her watch.]

Oh. It's Zack.

[She sounds a little sad as she says this but. She just. That's all she's got right now. She's tired.]
Edited 2023-07-15 04:04 (UTC)
onychomance: (The bullets rip)

[personal profile] onychomance 2023-07-15 04:08 am (UTC)(link)
[Akane is wrong, Kira thinks. But it wouldn't do any good even if he explained. He just has to take his licks like a man.

And it turns out his roommate is dead... huh, indeed. He also has awkwardly run out of things to say.]


... That poor bastard.
yesorwoof: (Pondering)

[personal profile] yesorwoof 2023-07-15 05:04 am (UTC)(link)
Oh. That's such a shame. Just when he was so worried about his memories...

[Makima had looked down at the ground to pay her respects for Zack. She looks up at Akane. She gives a shaky smile.]

No. Something pretty bad happened. I'm still standing by sheer force of will right now. I'll have to keep it up to go to the theater. But you'll be the one to see it either way. If you really wanted to stop and check on me in the spa on the way there, I can't say no.