maskormenace | video; (Murder most foul - backdated to early 14th)

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video; (Murder most foul - backdated to early 14th)

[The feed comes to life but the angle is askew, as if the communicator was lying down on the ground, capturing the scene. Some dim light can be seen in the background, maybe from a street lamp or a shop sign, but it's hard to know for sure. It's late at night and there doesn't seem to be a soul around, no real indication of where this was.

It is coming from Bela's device though but she isn't talking. In fact, she isn't doing much at all. For those faint of heart it was probably best to look away now. Otherwise, they were in for a not so pretty sight.

Bela is strung up high with a rope looped around her arms, tied to a post or maybe a tree, still dressed in the clothes that she wore to work earlier in the day. Clothes that are covered in blood. There are rips in them, showing shallow cuts underneath that are still oozing - it's impossible to tell if they were made before or after she died but it still makes for a rather grisly display. Her throat has been sliced open from one end to the other, leaving a gaping wound and causing Bela's head to rest in a strange position, clearly where it wasn't supposed to rest. Some of her hair is pushed away from her face revealing her lifeless expression, eyes opened in what looked like extreme terror.

A few vicious looking wounds can be seen on her stomach, jagged and messy as if they were carried out in a frenzy. Intended to cause as much pain and fear as possible to the victim; if those hadn't killed Bela then the cutting of her throat would have. It was obvious that she had met a very violent and horrible end, but with no tangible evidence left behind, finding out who committed the act would be damn near impossible.

The feed continues to roll for a little while longer until it times out, leaving the screen blank.]

[[ooc: Poor Bela will not be responding to this post (for obvious reasons) but feel free to have your character react! Feel free to have them chat amongst themselves too. No one will know the identity of the murderer, at least not IC-ly so please remember that. The identity will be revealed much later. For those wondering about the location, she's in the outskirts of Maurtia Falls. It'll be 72-hours before she's back in the land of the living!

I intend to have a post up in a few days to signal her return so ask all your murder related questions there. Or not! Bela herself won't know who killed her so her answers will be vague. Have fun 8D]]

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[Poe doesn't comment - instead he's already running out the door with his carpet under his arm and then he's in the sky.]

[He managed to narrow down the place - he'd passed by it a few times while he was flying, but it still took him some time searching the area before he found her. With the carpet he could move faster than the police could, and he wasn't stopping for anything or anyone.

At least until he arrived.

It had been pretty obvious that she was dead on the feed. It wasn't something new to him, though most of his friends died in balls of fire. Corpses were pretty rare, in the fleet. So this was a new level of gruesome, for him. His stomach turned as he flew the carpet up to where she was, bringing it up under her so it crumpled onto the rug before he started hacking at the rope with a pocket knife.]

[ It's not something Arthur ever expected to see - not in reality, anyway. He's seen some pretty violent shit in his life, but never has he seen something this brutal happen to someone he considers a friend.

It's sickening.

Naturally, then, he's going to track her down as well - someone who gives a shit about her should be there, when the cops show up, anyway. He's not sure if he was expecting someone already here, but there he is, anyway. ]

Here, let me help.

[ His own knife out, he starts working at the ropes as well. ]

[He had been so intent on what he had been doing that he started - pulling the knife quickly towards him and turning to--

Oh. Arthur. From the network. He'd talked to Bela there--

The fight response immediately drained out of him, and instead he just gave a grim look and nodded. Together they managed to get through the rope, and Poe slowly lowered the carpet to the ground, before taking off his jacket and carefully laying it over her, though it's not quite long enough to cover the wounds on her abdomen as well as her throat.]

[ Arthur keeps the mild-mannered expression on his face, marred only by the hint of disgust at what's been done to Bela. As Poe covers her, Arthur is on his phone, calling the police to give them the exact location of the body. ]

Yeah, and I don't give a shit, we weren't leaving her like that.

[ He hangs up, scowling. ]

Damn cops. There's a sicko murderer on the loose and they're lecturing me about crime scene contamination.

This isn't a normal crime.

[He's kneeling down beside her body, before reaching out to carefully close her lids down over her shocked eyes.]

What are they going to do? Take her away? She's going to wake up in a few days.

Take her to where they keep ImPorts until they wake up? Investigate and try to figure out who did this?

[ He glances around, as though the identity of the perpetrator will leap out at him. ]

So she can wake up by herself? [He does not sound pleased about that.]

This isn't the first one. There was another murder on the network, a lot like this one. They should have figured it out that time, rather than just-- [He breaks off, frustrated.]

I don't know how it works, I've only been here a couple months.

[ He assumed you know how it works! ]

Police are incompetent everywhere.

When Bodhi died, the police weren't even involved. Kay took him back to the house. Laid him down and waited until he woke up.

[His voice is a little detached, and he's still watching Bela, as if she might do the same, at any moment.]

... We'll wait for the police. Let them take pictures, or - or whatever. But she shouldn't go back to the morgue. We can take her to her apartment. Let her wake up somewhere that's hers.

She's been murdered - the police will need to collect evidence to figure out who did it.

But I agree, she deserves to go home after that.

[ Arthur, for his part, is keeping his face impassive. Of course, he's also not looking too hard at Bela. ]

[Poe lets out a long breath.]

Alright. We'll wait.

[There's a long pause, before he sighs and runs a hand through his hair.]

This is fucked up.

Yes, it is.

[ There's no arguing with that, and Arthur crosses his arms over his chest with a sigh. ]

If it's the same sicko as before, it's probably some sort of... serial killer. Nothing to do with Bela personally.

Just happened to be in the way?

[His expression is really dark, but there are sirens in the background, now. The police are finally on their way. Took them damn well long enough.]

I've seen a lot of people die. But not like this.

I'm in the same boat.

[ Arthur's a criminal, but a white collar one. He avoids the real sickos, because he finds real life violence distasteful. Violence in dreams is different - not just the knowledge that it's not real, but it's also cleaner, more like a movie than real life. This - this is just messy. ]

Nobody deserves this.

[ he doesn't reply right off, mostly because he'd thrown up at the sight of the body... When he does, though it's not much longer after. ]

Is anyone looking for her? Know where she might be? Can't just leave her like that...

I've got it.

[ some of the edge of his voice is gone, less panicked now. What the hell... Who does something like that? No, scratch that. Who does something like that and leaves it for all to see?

He doesn't know Bela very well, but she doesn't deserve that. ]

Oh. Okay. That's... [ not good, it's not really anything, it's awful. But at least she won't be left there, as a grisly display. ]

She doesn't deserve to come back like that.

[There's a very long delay between.]

No. She doesn't.

[And then it switches to private.]

I don't -- Bodhi, I'm not a medic, I don't know how to-- [He's not panicking, exactly, but his voice is clipped, mechanical, distant.]

Do you know a medic, here? I don't think I should just - give her over.

I don't. Know of any medics, but I'll ask around - see if anyone here knows someone who might be.

[ There's a very long pause. She'll be back - maybe in a few days, with fading scars, but the mental ones would stay afterwards.

Bodhi recalled wanting to talk to her more, only regretting that the conversation would be after something so brutal.

They had something in common, violently murdered but at least his dead body wasn't displayed far and wide over the network... ]

Her wounds. They'll uh, heal up. By the time she wakes up.

Didn't something like this happen already once this month? I remember seeing it before I -- anyways, they must not have caught anyone. [ Or looked very hard. ]

Thanks. I appreciate it. [He doesn't really want to go asking around right now.]

[He doesn't want to think about them healing up. About the wounds closing even as her skin lies grey and cold. Out of everything, that's the worst thing to think about so far. So he doesn't say anything about it.]

Yeah. They haven't caught anyone. Who even knows if they're really looking. [He's not bitter at all, Bodhi, at all.]

It isn't right. None of this is right.

[ Sorry, Poe. Was trying to help there. And he's thinking of it in the sense of how he's experienced it -- assuming that it'd work the same way. It would, wouldn't it? ]

Nobody has said anything. It feels like they don't make a big deal out of it, but... someone has to do something. [ Is it because dying isn't permanent that they just... don't care? ]

I know this is probably... do you know of anyone that would be comfortable with staying with her? Until she does come back?

I'll stay with her. [Firmly.]

There's no way I'm letting her wake up on her own.

... You okay, though?

Me? I'm fine. I'm not the one who was just... displayed out over the network like that.

[ okay but he hadn't reacted well to seeing it and the image was still burned in the back of his eyes.

Deep breath. ]

Sorry. Are you okay?

No. [To most people, he would lie. To most people, he would say, Yeah, obviously I'm fine. Just doing what I have to do.

He isn't sure when Bodhi became one of the people that he couldn't lie to that way, but he finds it impossible to lie to him now.]

No. I'm not. But someone has to be here.

Is there anything you need, that I can drop off for you?

No. I -- [He cuts off, looking away from the comm, his brow furrowed.]

Don't worry about me. I'll take care of myself. I'll - I'll get a hold of you later, alright?

Poe. [ you're damn right he's gonna worry about you. deal with it. ]

If you need anything, please... let me know, alright? I mean it.

Edited 2017-10-26 07:26 (UTC)

[He looks back, and this time, offers Bodhi a very fond (if also very sad) smile.]

... Yeah. I will. Promise.

Well, that's just unfortunate.

[He's not going to try to pretend to be upset or empathetic. If anything, he has to give the murderer points for creativity.]

[Several hours later, a figure on a flying carpet sweeps by Hux's window, and a brick is thrown in, smashing glass in its wake. The perpetrator is off into the sky before a word can be spoken.

He considered writing 'heartless murdering bastard' on the brick, but he was too upset to bother trying to find a marker.]

It's a little bit early for Hallowe'en pranks, isn't it?

[ raven's face is disgruntled. ] Why the hell would someone do this for Halloween?

[ sorry, halloween newbie here. ]

Because it's typical. The more grisly it seems, the better.

[And he'd rather not believe his (sort of) friend was brutally murdered.]

[ she makes a disgusted face. ] Yuck. [ halloween had seemed so cool on paper — dress up as someone else, go into a house that's allegedly haunted, and get candy. that, at least, is what she's learned thus far. murders didn't seem to be a big part of it. ]

It must be Halloween every day where I'm from then. [ but home and what had happened here isn't important now. she tilts her head up in acknowledgement, ] Did you know her?

Do know, present tense. It's a charade. Of course.

[Although he doesn't sound as certain of that as he was a minute ago, with every second the transmission stretches on without Bela opening her eyes and saying 'GOTCHA' giving him a sinking feeling.]

[ in a slightly unimpressed voice: ] I'm guessing this must be super common for Halloween.

[ remind raven to destroy halloween. she can do it, she's destroyed an a.i. before. ]

Where I'm from, this type of stuff isn't a charade. So I'm kind of hoping this is a new experience for me. Good people don't deserve this. [ and bela, in raven's opinion, while an acquaintance, is a good person. bad people don't go out of their way to patiently explain antiques, which raven, after some schmoogling, has learned is something everyone just freaking knows. ]

[He's not actually paying much attention to what she's saying at this point (sorry Raven) being a little preoccupied with his eventual realization of the reality of the situation.

Mutters disgustedly:] Oh for fuck's sake.

[Abigail's voice is shaky as she speaks.]

Oh, god, is that what I looked like?

[A pause.]

I'm sorry. I didn't mean to. I shouldn't have said that out loud.

She looks so scared and alone. Someone's gone to get her, right?

[ What a waste of blood. ]

Someone will pay dearly for this outrage.

[Count Dooku's voice sounds as though he is handing down a sentence at court to the condemned.]

[ opening this feed was a fucking mistake, because loma is tearing the screen away from her eyes the second she sees who it is and running to her bathroom to vomit.

that's her housemate. was she so unaware of things, too caught up in herself, to notice this? god the poor woman. ]

[ raven's used to bloodiness. the ground has always been coated in blood, from the grounders, mountain men, and even her own people. she's seen dead bodies before, clean and dirty, bloody and messy, and she's helped bury friends in the ground in the hopes they find peace. despite all that familiarity, she still isn't desensitised to it. the way this woman has been killed reminds her of the one thousand cuts commander lexa bitchface had sentenced her to, and the few cuts that had been slowly split into her own skin by the grounders who followed her. ]

[ this place was supposed to be safe, even though it never promised to be. ]

[ rather than fall back into that dark, horrible place, raven steels herself with a breath. her voice comes out strong and firm. ]

This asshole's putting this up on display for everyone to see? [ if only raven had the power to blow people up with her mind. ] I know there's someone here who's got to be there right now. Please don't tell me she's still alive.

I'm here.

She's not.

[ a slight murmur: ] Thank god for small favours.

[ she spends a moment trying to put a name to the voice. spending several months with a bunch of kids she's passed in the hallways has given her at least a good tactic to try and recall faces, voices, and names that otherwise flit by her. her voice becomes louder once she clears her throat. ] Who's this?

[The reposnses aren't immediate, and his voice is tense.]

Poe Dameron. I'm a - friend. Of Bela's. Who's this?

[He's seen grisly displays before, but never someone he was close to and not like this.]

Who did this?

[ What the hell kind of a greeting is this? Seifer, for once, is stock still and serious. Is this a joke? It must be.

He lets out a slow exhale that drags out until he's saying out loud to himself: ]

...fuck.

[ More like: fuck this place. ]

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video; (Murder most foul - backdated to early 14th)

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action - open to whoever else came looking for her

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