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 Posted: Fri Jun 21, 2013 1:11 pm
Kelina smiled slightly at the little boy's song, he definitely had quite the spirit to him. She kept her hands away from the little kids as well as out of sight. The blood on them made her feel nasty and queasy and she didn't want anyone to see how bad her hands were shaking. She'd never had to examine a dead body before and it shook her up quite a bit.
The two kids, Nuawahn and Ilyra, as she knew their names now, walked with herself and Nyiim to the stream where Kelina knelt down, furiously scrubbing her hands. "Thank you for bringing me down here." Her voice was still soft but it wasn't as uneasy. What she found on the body wasn't too much of a surprise. It seemed like there had been a struggle where the girl might have fallen down getting the scrapes on her knees and elbows. It was just strange that she didn't have more wounds.
There would be time, she hoped, to think about that further. Everyone likely had their own theory of what happened and maybe if they merged all of them they could figure out what was the most likely situation. Once her hands were clean, but yet still shaking, she brushed some of the stray hair out of her face. "Okay, we're good now." She said as she started walking back to the other three.
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Posted: Fri Jun 21, 2013 1:22 pm
What they found upon returning was a dreadful sight indeed. It seemed as if the male Shifter's attitude had rubbed some people the wrong way. A mob had gathered, and the man was just as alive as the first victim. Was this what they had come to? A land that was meant to be one of truce had become the mecca for some terrible goings-on. While men and women stood around, making accusations and generally having a hard time of everything, a small group was shown to be carrying the body away. That was good enough for him. Out of the group that has first arrived, one had died. It was time to go back home and wait this one out. He only stopped with Shirin briefly.
"Did you see anything?!" and, once her response was given, "Tomorrow, in the center of the settlement!"
Once their brief conversation had ceased, he turned to walk the children home with Kelina, and then escort the Shifter back to her own resting place before traveling him himself, more than alert with his Beretta Model 38A Spearhead at the ready. Damned if anyone else was dying by the end of this!
The image of the corpses danced in his head, and an irking feeling of guilt tore at his chest. Could he have stopped this all, if he hadn't left with Kelina? He was going to have to be more careful. They all were. Sleep came on the wings of nightmares after several hours had passed.
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Posted: Fri Jun 21, 2013 1:52 pm
"We both won?" he grinned at Ilyra, "Thats great! I liked what you did..."
He had no idea the detective game had turned sour... or, rather, bitter.
As the day turned late, he was still the little ray of sunlight he always was. This time, he went to bed at a reasonable time.
This time, he slept. Soundly. sweetly. Unaware that the game would only get worse.
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Posted: Fri Jun 21, 2013 4:02 pm
"Shirin," the Wind prentice said by way of self-introduction as she steeled herself to take a watchful stance by Kelina and the victim's. The Shifter examined the wounds with care and attention, as far as the Sauti native could see. As such, she felt no qualms in confirming the other woman's observations, though she offered a few questions from time to time regarding the shape and size of the wounds. The more details stated out in the open for all to know, the less the killer could lurk in the shadows. Fortunately the two younglings she saw in the crowd were preoccupied with singing.
Though she could not truly be at peace until the killer was found, she took solace in the thought that things seemed to be proceeding calmly, rationally. The rise of mob rule was a rude awakening. Unable to turn the tide despite her objections, she resolved at least to seek justice, taking mental note as best she could of those in the mob. But were they trying to cover up the killer's identity or simply acting on their fears?
"Not nearly enough to go on," Shirin told Nyiim when he dropped by, her voice low and subdued with a tinge of bitterness from her inability to help. But she couldn't, wouldn't to jump to conclusions the way the mob had. "Some people threw around accusations. One gained momentum. If the killer had a hand in guiding opinion, it was easy enough to stay hidden in the group, no?" She nodded to the meeting time and place, then withdrew to the inn where she was staying.
Back in the privacy of her lodgings, she lay awake in bed, trembling, for a long time. Rayolun's earlier vote of confidence echoed in her mind; she hadn't deserved the Shifter man's trust, unable as she was to avert his summary execution. And if death was the fate to meet someone who spoke his mind, she wished she had kept a lower profile. When exhaustion finally overtook her, she fell asleep on the vague prayer to Bergchi that she would wake up to find that no deaths had occurred, that Benin was the same cheerful and friendly settlement as before.
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Posted: Sat Jun 22, 2013 7:42 am
Ilyra rolled her eyes at the little boy. Yes they had both won, which actually meant they had also both lost. It was the same thing, you couldn't have two winners. He was pretty stupid. She didn't like him either, which just made him seem more stupid to her.
Soon she found that another person was dead, and they were all going to different places to sleep. However after Nyiim left her she got up and followed him, going to sleep next to him when he finally went to where he was sleeping.
As much as she would never want to admit it she didn't want to be alone if people were out there dying. She was too scared, and besides Nyiim was where she felt safe. Once next to Nyiim it didn't take long for her to fall asleep.
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Posted: Sat Jun 22, 2013 7:53 am
One by one all the villagers went to sleep. Some more reluctantly then others. Had Rayolun been the killer of the innocent girl? Or was he just an innocent victim himself, killed by the mob of people just because they thought that he was acting suspiciously? Well only time would tell.
The next morning all seemed to be well as everyone started waking up, there were no blood curling screams. Did this mean they had the right guy? Most went along with their lives, preparing to leave that day, thinking that they had found the murder and justice had been served!
However soon someone found another body. It was Kelina's! She had been murdered as well. Sadly people started to unpack and once again began to talk about the murder. Had the hung the wrong person? Or was Rayolun not alone in this? All that mattered was that they needed to get to the bottom of this soon, they didn't want anymore deaths!
Today's Wise man is Nyiim. His vote counts as two today. Nilah feel free to post her getting killed, or the approach if you'd like for your last post! This round will last until tomorrow morning at 10am EST.
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Posted: Sat Jun 22, 2013 8:43 am
Kelina had slept uneasily that night, tossing and turning as she had nightmares about the woman's body. She was suddenly awoken by a hand covering her mouth before something was shoved into her mouth preventing her scream. She flailed out, unsure if she was doing any good in her struggle. She felt something sharp on her arms before feeling something slice into her cheek. But it was over before she knew it, her thoughts turned to the younglings, then to her sister, and then to her mother, and then no more.
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Posted: Sat Jun 22, 2013 11:52 am
Nyiim ran his hand back through his hair, unsettling it. So the trustworthy one had indeed been innocent, and so it came down to four. Himself, Shirin, and the two children. It was that thought that bothered him the most; these children might have been involved. What if the little Wind youngling sleep-walked, like in the ghost stories told to children around the campfire? He didn't want what had happened to Rayolun to happen to a child, guilty or not...
He turned to Shirin and swallowed.
"And then there were four..."
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Posted: Sat Jun 22, 2013 3:54 pm
When Shirin woke, the nightmare remained; worse still, Kelina had joined the others in death. Had one or both of the Shifters touched on the truth, however unwittingly, before the killer sealed their lips forever? She fought back tears. She couldn't be sure of anyone's guilt or innocence, but she still felt that the Shifters both deserved better fates than sudden death far from home.
Lips pressed into a somber line, the Wind girl nodded to Nyiim's words. "And at this rate, there likely will be fewer of us before long." She shivered but set her jaw. "But I for one will seek justice for the dead, as long as I can. Did you see anything yesterday?" The Leaf man and the younglings had spent more time in Kelina's company, as far as she could tell. "Or anyone who might have meant her harm?"
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Posted: Sat Jun 22, 2013 4:11 pm
"No. I walked her home, and we parted ways," Nyiim responded with disappointment. He had listened to the conversations from the few who had seen her, but nobody had any pertinent information. While he felt bad for the surviving girl and her obvious discomfort, there were only three possible culprits remaining.
"I think that we have to accept the fact that it was one of us, or one of... them. He motioned between the adults and then gestured his eyes toward the children. As unbelievable as it was, nobody else had been seen around the crime scene.
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Posted: Sat Jun 22, 2013 4:29 pm
Nuawahn, attracted by the commotion, stared at Kelina's body. Nononononono nonononono that wasn't right.
This wasn't right at all. He frowned perplexedly. She had been nice. She wasn't supposed to die. Good people dont... Don't...
Four?
Where was the other guy, the shifter? The sorta-kinda-mean guy? A little bit of dread hit him as his eyes fell on the hanging body. He looked up, up, up at Rayolun's body.
This wasn't right. He had gone to sleep and everything had been a fun game.
It wasn't supposed to change! He didn't wanna play the find-the-bad-guy game anymore!
Nuawahn started to sniffle unhappily.
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Posted: Sat Jun 22, 2013 4:44 pm
Blue eyes briefly tracking Nyiim's gesture toward the children, Shirin offered the Leaf man a resigned nod. "I don't like the idea. Still, it's a possibility we have to consider, if only for completeness' sake."
But even if the children were also suspects, she still couldn't stay away from comforting a sniffling child. "Oh, there, there now," she said, reaching out reflexively to pat at Nuawahn's shoulder. "I'm sorry you," and she included Ilyra with a sweep of her gaze, "have to be a part of this. But we'll do our best to keep things..." Safe? Not a promise they were able to keep, thus far. "Fair, for as long as we can." No one in this group of four was going to join or start a lynch mob out of the blue, right? A girl could hope.
Shirin scrubbed a weary hand across her face. "If only we could really trust someone -- even just one person in the rest of the group." Her mouth curved wryly in a smile that held no humor at all. "But we can already guess each other's answers, if we went for group questioning."
Anxiety creased her features as an unsettling thought struck her. "Do you think the killer might have had an accomplice?"
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Posted: Sat Jun 22, 2013 4:52 pm
Nyiim's eyes traveled to the ground a moment. Well, he had trusted Kelina the best out of the group, and he'd seen where that went.
"Hey, Nuawahn, don't cry," he said then, offering to lift the boy up and planning to turn him away from the body. Really, this whole place had gone to hell overnight.
"Do I think they have an accomplice? Definitely. A suspect is dead, and a presumed innocent is dead. It's not like Rayolun could have killed Kelina, if he was even the guilty party. I trust only myself. So, that being said."
He turned now to the boy he was or was not holding.
"Where did you wake up yesterday morning, when the lady went with the spirits?"
He'd rather it have been sleepwalking or possession or anything other than a willful act, and he felt ridiculous asking a child, but it had to be done.
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