Chapter 2: (Ab)Normal Days

[iruy]

[...Well, that was fun.]





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[OOC: Please leave any comments or critiques here! They'd be really appreciated! Also, anyone who'd like to be a murderer for this round, please PM me here or DM me on twitter. Thanks!]

Comments

[necroconductor]

[He's still nowhere to be seen; however, when Maria returns to her room, there's a note that's been pushed under her door.]

Please don't burn the bodies. Put them in the freezer in the cafeteria. I think I can...

Sorry,
Roma

teentouch!anon

[(Anonymous)]

/it's a while before she returns to her room/

/she stood around watching the chaos unfold and snapping photos, feeling worse as time went on/

/but, eventually, nature calls/

/she trudges back to her room and walks over the note at first/

/it's not until she's done and looking at her camera, debating going back through the photos when she notices the paper, which she hesitantly picks up and reads/





/Roma? Why, isn't he working with Yuri? He can what...?/

/oh/



/she quickly gets rid of the note, swallowing it of course, and when she finishes choking it down peeks her head back out/

/coast is clear?/




/she hugs the walls back in the main area again, waiting for people to leave or something or.../

/just not pay attention/

/Is anyone even looking at Tony anymore? Can she be saved? Her wounds were pretty bad.../

/she has an idea/

uhn

[(Anonymous)]

[as she approaches the body he already has it half slung over his shoulder]

[looks up as he hears her]

I, um...

I looked at her again. But nothing has changed. She is really cold now.

teentouch!anon

[(Anonymous)]

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./

uhn

[(Anonymous)]

[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...

teentouch!anon

[(Anonymous)]

/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/

uhn

[(Anonymous)]

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?

teentouch!anon

[(Anonymous)]

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/

uhn

[(Anonymous)]

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.

teentouch!anon

[(Anonymous)]

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.

uhn

[(Anonymous)]

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?

teentouch!anon

[(Anonymous)]

Probably. People get desperate.

/sigh/

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

uhn

[(Anonymous)]

[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]

teentouch!anon

[(Anonymous)]

Neither do I. Not going to.

/she wouldn't mind/

/she doesn't really know his either/

Yeah, if she's actually dead.

uhn

[(Anonymous)]

[frowns]

I don't understand why you protect Roma. Don't you think he decided by himself to go and work with Yuri? Do you... do you think...

[suddenly gains a bit of hope]

D-do you think he is only... ah, what is the word... pretending! Do you think he is only pretending to be on Yuri's side? You think he will maybe help us?

[had lowered his voice during those last sentences]

That would be good.

teentouch!anon

[(Anonymous)]

Who knows.

/but she doesn't look him in the eye when she says that/

I always hold out hope.

/but then, she does/

/maybe he isn't too dense to realize what she's just said with her body language/

But hope is valuable. It's better to keep it to yourself so others won't take it from you.

/and not too stupid to go around spreading what she's just insinuated/

uhn

[(Anonymous)]

[he really isn't one to catch small subtleties, but the significance of "keep it to yourself" isn't lost on even him]

...

Who can we trust? I don't know what to think and what to do. Tony seemed so friendly, but what do we really know about her? And she, here-- [nods down at Pidge]-- did she really kill her with a cold heart? Or was she scared? Did she feel as if she had no other way?

A-and it's the same for Roma - I was so angry at him before, and now I don't know what I should think. It is like you said: we cannot look into other people's heads.

[rubs his forehead]

If everybody can lie...

[suddenly thinks of his new fiancée - he was glad Maria didn't inquire about her again; surely nobody would understand why they became a couple in an instant, but now he is beginning to second-guess that development himself]


...


And... if even the ones who want only the best get too sad and scared...

[thinks of the dead boy who challenged Yuri, and of the small, frail one who despaired at Pidge at the trial]

How can we stop more people from killing and dying? I feel like I cannot do anything.

teentouch!anon

[(Anonymous)]

Don't kill anyone.

/pause/

We could stay in a group.

uhn

[(Anonymous)]

A group? Always?

[shifts a little and breaks eye contact]

...

[how can he to explain that always being together with others would be more stressful than being alone and vulnerable?]

teentouch!anon

[(Anonymous)]

Wouldn't be too hard. Bathroom might be the weird part. But it's not like we'd be hanging out, just keeping an eye on one another.

/sleeping room would be difficult/

uhn

[(Anonymous)]

Hm...


[frowns suddenly and looks down at the still girl]

...

[pulls her up a little and feels for her pulse at a different angle, then tries her wrist, then her throat again]

[looks at Maria]

teentouch!anon

[(Anonymous)]

/... oh/


/she looks down, then picks up her camera and takes a photo/

So she's... gone?

uhn

[(Anonymous)]

[nods]

Hm-m.

But let me be sure.

[lowers her onto her back and observes for a moment - no rise and fall of the chest]

[leans down and checks for heartbeat, breath, pulse again... but it has all stopped]

I think she really died.

[this isn't such a cruel way to go, all things considered]

teentouch!anon

[(Anonymous)]

/guess that means it's time to move her too/

/She gets up then leans down to grab and arm, and waits for him to do the same. She'll help again this time./

uhn

[(Anonymous)]

[surprised; he was ready to do it alone]

[gives her a small smile, then carefully carries the body into the elevator with her - at least this one is still soft and warm and feels more like a human than a thing, maybe that will make it easier for her]


...


[should it be strange that someone just died in his arms? perhaps, but she seems to be taking it in stride, too]

[besides he has seen much more violent deaths - but of course he can't tell any of the others about those; they wouldn't understand]

[still... the groaning of the wood as the trunk is severed from the root, the earth-shaking crash downwards, the breaking and snapping and splintering of branches, the revving of the saws as they get ready to dismember a being that was so old, so quiet, but always ready to listen...]

[frowns without noticing]