shslanon | Chapter 2: (Ab)Normal Days

God, I feel like an undertaker.

/She just nods and waits for him, then leads him back to the kitchen. She's already moved the food like she said she would. To where? Who knows. Good luck finding it./

/She hopes Yuri can actually do something about this./

[carefully lays Tony inside the freezer]

I'll get the boy, too.

[leaves and returns with the next body shortly afterwards - he is a bit harder to carry]

Can you help me? He is heavy...

/makes a face/

Gross.

/but goes over to help anyway, offering her shoulder for the other side/

Why is he all stiff like that?!

/uuggghhh she is taking the longest shower after this/

That happens when people die. O-or animals, too. The blood stops, that's why I think the muscles can't move any more, even if someone else tries to move them from the outside.

[lays him in the freezer too, with her help, then looks down at his still face]

...

Do you know what his name was?

Bodies are weird.

/she steps back and tries to stop the feeling of things crawling all over her/

No clue. I didn't speak to him, just got some superficial photos. Why did he die, anyway?

/good, that's done, now it's up to Yuri/

U-um... he saw Tony's body laying in the corridor and got scared and then angry. About the-- the situation, I mean, that she really got killed, like Yuri said we would have to. He yelled for Yuri, and when Yuri came, he wanted to kill him. Then Yuri...

[frowns as he tries to remember the particulars]

...

He didn't have a stick like the boy who works with him now. He just moved his hand, I think? And he-- [nodding at the corpse]-- fell down just like the girl.

The girl...

[turns away from the freezer to stare at her face]

Do you think sh-she really killed Tony? She said she was her best friend.

Guess that means we can't do anything to Yuri, huh.

/even if Yuri can't save them, everyone deserves a proper burial for their families, not turned into ash in some prison to never be seen again/

I don't know. I wasn't there. She said she did, but who knows what her motivations were. I can't see inside others' heads.

Hm...

[goes quiet as he tries to piece what evidence they have together, but he can't come to a proper conclusion - people just elude him]

...

Do you think somebody else is going to kill somebody?

Probably. People get desperate.

/sigh/

/she slumps a little and looks at her hands, then goes to wash them/

[keeps gazing at the corpses while she is busy at the sink]

I don't want to kill somebody.

...

Would it be good to bring Tony's friend here, too? Maybe she is still alive now, but if she dies...

[looks over at her]

[kind of wants to ask for her name and SHSL, but it makes him feel annoyed at himself - he wouldn't normally want to know such things about other people]

Neither do I. Not going to.

/she wouldn't mind/

/she doesn't really know his either/

Yeah, if she's actually dead.

[nods and closes the freezer's door]

Let us go.

[leads the way back to the elevator and waits until she is inside, then sends it down]

...

[well, they are going to be stuck together]

[and it's not as if he had any trees here to befriend and talk to...]

U-um... what are you called? I'm Jakub. I'm a dendrologist - that means I work with trees. I-if you didn't know.

[oh no, was that impolite? maybe now she thinks he think she is stupid]

[turns a blotchy red out of nervosity]

Trees? Like, actual trees or is that a euphemism?

/d'aw he's turning red, it hides his pimples/

I'm Maria. I take photos. I'd say it's nice to meet you but it's kind of not considering where we are.

[stares at her; he needs a moment to process this]

Ah - yes! It would be nice.

[on the other hand he wouldn't even be talking to her (or anyone else) if they were on a normal campus with forested acreage]

And hm-m, they are real trees.

[what could "trees" be a euphemism for? but he is distracted from the question as the elevator stops]

...

[walks into the silent courtroom, crouches by Tony's supposed friend and checks her pulse again]

Hm... she is still alive.

/she doesn't know, weed?/

/she just nods/

Okay, real trees.

/when the elevator opens and they find out her status, she sighs miserably and takes a seat beside her body/

Then I wait. Or we wait, if you want.

/she hesitates, then lifts her camera and takes a photo/

[blinks at the flash]

I can wait with you.

[he is deadly tired, having had barely any sleep the night before, but she doesn't look too fresh-faced either, and she seemed uncomfortable having to touch the other body, so it would probably make her very unhappy to have to carry this one around alone]

...

I-I'm going to try to wake her up.

[sits the unconscious girl up and shakes her by the shoulders, then gives her a light slap]

[of course it is no use]

/he's... going to stay? she glances up and smiles at him, then returns her attention to Pidge's body/

/she passively watches him abuse it and turns off the flash and takes another photo/

I don't think there's anything we can do but wait.

/so wait she will/

[carefully opens one of the girl's closed eyes]

She's not looking at anything... but she is breathing. Quietly, like someone who is sleeping.

This is too bad.

[settles down on the ground with her head in his lap - he'll keep two fingers at her throat to feel any changes in her pulse]

...

[locks eyes with Maria again]

The boy who did this... he was one of our classmates, right? I think I saw him when Yuri was holding his s-speech yesterday.

Why is he working for Yuri now? Do you think he offered that, and for his help he is allowed to live? But why? Yuri can kill people like this himself... he doesn't need help.

I don't know, it's weird.

/she notices the way he treats her, and she eases up a little. maybe he isn't all that bad/

I talked to him, Roma, when we first got here. He was on the stage by himself. He didn't seem too bad. I don't- I'm not going to judge him until this is all over.

/she's not sharing the letter she received/

[it's easier for him to deal with people who don't move around and talk and confuse him]

[but most of his classmates have been surprisingly nice, Maria included... though he talked so much today that his throat feels all sandpaperish and his tongue is heavy and tired]

Hm...

You know... if she-- [looks down at the culprit]-- really murdered Tony, then I think it's right that she gets a punishment. But if she dies now, then isn't... Roma, you said, that's his name? Then isn't Roma a murderer, too?

Shouldn't he get a trial, too? If he doesn't because Yuri says the rules don't count for him, then that isn't right.

/she's talked much more than she's used to as well, but doing so seems to make her feel better, so she'll keep at it/

... I don't want him to go to trial.

/she shifts uncomfortably, and stretches her legs out/

I don't want anyone else to go to trial.

/another pause/

Is someone else going to die tonight?

I don't know.

[briefly looks towards the elevator - he has no idea how many of the others are still moving around upstairs and how many have gone to bed]

I, I hope Lia is okay. I should probably have looked after her.

[makes a mental note to knock on her door before he goes to sleep]

...

Are you not angry at him? Roma, I mean? I am angry, because... I'm not sure about this girl and Tony; did she really kill her after making her think she would be her friend? If it happened like that, then I'm angry at her too. But I'm not sure. But I am sure about Roma, because I saw that he works with Yuri. We all saw him.

Who's Lia?

/she shakes her head/

Yuri's the cause of everything. Roma's just an unfortunate tool. You don't punish soldiers for killing in battle during war. So I can't be mad at Roma, but I can at Yuri.

/at least that makes sense to her/

/she shifts again, moving to curl up and wrap her arms around her knees/

[http://shslanon.dreamwidth.org/1502.html?thread=707038#cmt707038]

Chapter 2: (Ab)Normal Days

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