INVESTIGATION 4

[umbralant]

INVESTIGATION 4

And the clock ticks down to the end of another week. While the days were no less eventful, the tone set by last Thursday wasn't matched in the same way this time, so perhaps that's a source of relief for some. Looking at it another way though, maybe it was nothing more than the calm before the storm; after all, every Friday has been nothing but bodies upon bodies in some way or another.

So maybe that's why it may be unsurprising to smell something acrid and burnt on the autumn breeze that sweeps through the streets. The bell tolls eight. Time to get investigating.

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[p_q]

[Ulquiorra never bothers to be particularly on time for these investigations, and it's even less so now -- there's just no real incentive for him to be helpful, most of the time. Accordingly, it takes a while for him to pace his way over to where the crowds are, moving with leisurely steps.

He pauses when he sees Erik crouched on the ground staring at the dirt?? Or the cobblestone or the road or whatever, I don't know what this road is made of.]

Are you so idle here that you've taken to crawling the grounds searching for coin?

[He's still far enough away that it's probably hard to spot the blood. Considering. It's morse code or whatever??]

[bawcock]

Sheesh, you don't think much of anyone, do you? And what kind of thief digs through mud for coins anyway?

[ He'd pick someone's pocket first!! He's not this low grade!! But he also would take coins off the ground if he had to, so like. Whatever!! ]

Why don't you take a closer look by your feet. [ Trail's probably there too 'cause it seems unnecessarily long/spaced out. ]

[p_q]

I think nothing of those who haven't given me a reason to.

[Implied: Probably no one and nothing here has given him a reason to. It's hard to say, given his regularly scheduled poker face. Also, Erik can't talk if he would literally pick coins off the ground?? He is literally just this-adjacent huh.

Ulquiorra does at least bother to look down -- there's enough trail closer to him that he can at least move over to stare at it. Hm.]

... I see. And the state of the body?

[Because like. Blood on Fridays is just someone shuffling off the mortal coil, isn't it.]

[bawcock]

[ Don't call him out like this??

And ok that's cold even if he's also kind of like, "this situation sucks but this is how it is......." ]

No idea. I can't make heads or tails out of this trail though. What about you?

[p_q]

[Sometimes you gotta call a burrito a burrito, Erik.

And he didn't get to see Ulquiorra verbally take Pizza out back and shoot him in the head pretty much, so that might be why he's even marginally surprised. That being said, have you seen his not-associate. I don't know what you expected from someone acquainted with that. It's terrible.]

Without seeing the wounds in question, everything is speculation. This is... unlike the wound patterns so far.

[The last is a mutter to himself. He doesn't bother to crouch to look, but he does tilt his head slightly like he's considering the morse-not-morse-code they've been saddled with.]

[bawcock]

[ But sometimes you gotta calculate what the burrito's worth, Ulquiorra.

OK, yeah he didn't see that. Not that he would've been too surprised, Ulquiorra looks and acts a lot like a mannequin so his behavior here checks out. At least he's helping now...? ]

That's true. Don't suppose you'd do me a favor and pop into the arcade and take a look, would you?

[ He automatically assumes the answer is no considering Ulquiorra's muttering to himself and goes back to decoding the not-coded-trail! As he follows it along, about how far apart are the splatters? ]

[umbralant]

[There's quite the distance between each part! In one part there even is a dozen meters between one and the other! Sometimes you may even think you're about to lose the track.

For a trail, it sure is scarce and hard to follow]

[bawcock]

[ This is too many meters??? Uhhh, hm, yeah this is really weird? He's just. Gonna keep following it, he guesses...

And try desperately not to lose it as he moves. Which direction is he headed in? ]

[umbralant]

[The direction you took leads you down the streets for a while, but soon he'll see at the distance the derailed tram.

Jackpot...?]

[bawcock]

[ this was way too far a distance to cross while crouching, dammit ulquiorra should've gotten the troublesome trail!!

But huh, okay. Yeah, that's... something? It's something. There's no footprints or anything along the way, right? ]

[p_q]

[Erik just gets a flat look from Ulquiorra and absolutely zero movement, so yeah, he's not some errand runner to be ordered around. It's quite possible that he would have gone to look had Erik not mentioned it quite like that, but alas. Now he just has a stubborn bat battened down next to him.

So now that they're mutually ignoring each other, Ulquiorra can focus on staring down the trail. He does at least move a little, just enough to check the direction the trail is going opposite from the way Erik's following it and the shape of it (as in, is it straight, curved, zigzagging, what).]

[umbralant]

[Ah, cooperation! How lovely to see you making friends, Ulquiorra!

So, this trail goes in a relatively straight manner. There are some parts where it wavers, but it doesn't last long, turning back into the same straight line from before.

Said line leads towards the arcade. Welcome to the hottest place in town!]

[p_q]

[You're not his real dad, random voice that is definitely not Rem or the Lady masquerading as a neutral account!!!!

The wavering might make sense if it was someone injured, but all the same someone was making a beeline despite being like. Wobbly?? Maybe?? Looks like he's ended up at the arcade anyway. It's been long enough since his ego was pricked that he'll fulfill his own curiosity by stepping in a little, ignoring the smoke and char and carefully picking his way a little ways inside the entrance.

Can he spot the body from here, might as well.]