[PLOT] At the Crime Scene (Kimacho & Azar'bijan) COMPLETE

[Kimaria]

(AIM log between Chibi Sheepcat and Kimaria)

Dead bodies were not unfamiliar to Kimacho; however he had hoped that he had seen the last of them when he and his group had arrived in the Firekin lands. Joining a warrior pride that was focused on the inner strength rather than the outward manifestation of such strength had seemed like a good idea. He had thought his group would be safe here, perhaps even do well among the lions of the desert. He had not expected that so soon after their arrival he would be investigating the murder of Epesi. Perhaps he should have asked Nasiha to see to Siri before he had returned to the crime scene, but he had adopted his 'work mind' and was not to be disturbed. There were questions to be asked, the first of which to a Firekin who might very well be the culprit.

Turning his full attention to the red lion before him - made even redder by the blood that covered him - Kimacho did his best to keep his face straight. A detective must keep their mind clear, less they do not ask the right questions or miss out on subtle cues. "I am sure there is an explanation for your current state." It was a statement, but he made sure to make it in such a way that the other lion felt compelled to answer. Surely if he had done it he wouldn't have been hanging around the body, but he would not jump to conclusions. Not yet.

---

Crap. CrapcrapcrapcrapCRAP!! Seriously, now, how the HELL was he going to get himself out of this one? This looked bad. Real bad. And anyone who knew Azar’bijan knew he had a mouth on him. Knew he had a thing about outsiders, too. He didn’t like them – not straight off, anyway. You had to earn his respect first, prove yourself and as far as he was concerned, these lions were just using up valuable Firekin resources whilst they wasted the day away watching the tournaments and basically…causing trouble.

But now this.

Oh, crap.

“You think I did this?” His eyes widened, his mouth hanging open in what he hoped looked like disbelief. “Seriously, who do you think you are? You’re not even a Firekin, yet? What are you doing questioning me!?”

He shook himself a little, but nothing could rid his fur of the blood that caked his fur. Okay. This looked bad. Perhaps half an hour ago he’d been sent to find Epesi and bring him to the tournament to watch the first collection of matches taken place. And now this.

He curled a lip, trying not to act as frightened as he felt.  

[Kimaria]

"I don't think you did anything. There is not good enough evidence to convict you of a murder." Though the fact that he was covered in blood definitely didn't help him any. Nor did the fact that he had been sent to fetch Epesi for the tournament. Already he had two counts against him. He could have easily killed him and pretended like he'd just found the body all along. Perhaps he could have left the blood believing no one would think he was that stupid to kill a lion and then walk away wearing the evidence of his own crime. Kimacho had met many a clever lion and lioness in his lifetime and he tried very hard to avoid taking everything at face value. He had learned the hard way that things were not always as they seemed.

As for why he was questioning Azar, that was easy. If the Regents themselves had not given him the task he would have a hard time getting the answers from the members of the pride. Already he was beginning to feel the resistance. He was sure this would not be the first time his outsider status came around to bite him in the behind. "I was assigned the task of solving Epesi's murder. You may as your Regents if you do not believe me. It is my job, you see, to ask the questions and to get the answers. I am still interested to know about the blood."

---

Ha. Score! He couldn’t help a little, smug, smile stretch across his face. If there was no evidence – except the blood on him – than it’d be cool. Totally cool. He just needed to play this smooth. Yeah…smooth…totally not what Azar was good at doing.

“Peh, Regents.” He had nothing against No, except that she was the mate of Kidondo and Kidondo had always made him angry. Angry that he had refused to let Azar become a soldier and instead apprenticed him to a Guard. Okay…so, that career hadn’t worked out too badly, but even still, it wasn’t fair!!

Immaturity still reigned strong in this one.

“I found him, didn’t I? Hell, how was I supposed to know he was DEAD? I thought he was sleeping. Then I thought he was hurt. I gave him a shove and then…” He paused. “Well, you can guess the rest, Mister Smart-a** Detective.” He shot the lion another glare. “You know, you’re totally wasting your time here talking to me. The real killer is out there somewhere. Actually, you know what, I can probably give you the name of the one who did it!!”

Woah.Woah. Calm down there. Getting a bit ahead of yourself, aren’t we? He couldn’t just let it lie…he had to dig himself deeper.  

[Kimaria]

Azar disliked the Regents? Perhaps dislike was the wrong word, but nonetheless he seemed to regard their leadership unfavourably. It was possible that they had made a decision in his life that he didn't agree with, or maybe he didn't agree with the way they were letting in rogues so frequently. It was hard to say, but it was very interesting. Kimacho made a mental note of that detail, filing it away with the other information he had gathered on Azar's temperament.

He allowed the red lion to give his account of the incident, ignoring the tone in favour of the information being given. Azar stated he found the body and thought he was sleeping. A funny thought, seeing as there had been wounds on the body, but Kimacho let it slide. He then must have seen the injuries, assuming he was hurt, and moved the body around enough to cover himself in blood. An unlikely story, but it was plausible. Azar certainly did not seem like the smartest Firekin around, and with his temperament he could have thought Epesi was sleeping even when he had obvious injuries.

Kimacho was about to make a comment on the story when the topic was abruptly changed. Azar could tell him the name of the killer? He was caught off guard, and it showed before he schooled his face into a frown. "You think you can tell me who the killer was? Who?"

---

If Azar could read minds, perhaps he would have been more worried at this point. Thankfully, he couldn’t and as he stared across into the dark male’s face, expression tense but moody, he seemed to think he had control of the situation. He’d never been that smart, always acting before thinking, always making rash decisions. Hell, even when he was a suspect for murder he was still shooting off his mouth as he always did.

“I can, so long as I get the credit for it, right? No taking the credit for something that I helped you with.” Yeah…it sounded like something a rogue would do, just so he could get his paw on firm sand. Pah!

“It was that dark one, you know, Tepe. He wanted people to notice him, right? He’s practically unnoticeable!” He puffed out his chest a little. “Well, listen, he wanted to be leader of your band and the only way that could happen was by killing Epesi.” He nodded, feeling proud.

Was that a motive, or what?!  

[Kimaria]

Kimacho's frown deepened, but he agreed to the terms. "I will make sure you get sufficient credit." How could Azar know the culprit so easily? Of course he had better connections, having no doubt grown up in the Firekin lands his whole life. He would know every member of the pride. But, on the flipside, why would he accuse one of his own of murder? Would he do such a think to save his own skin? He was chasing his own tail in this mystery already. With a small, inward sigh he firmly steered himself back on track. He wanted to see what Azar had to say.

Several of his earlier questions quickly dissapeared when Azar said that it was Tepe. Accuse a lion that Kimacho knew better than he did? A poor choice. Still, he listened, though he had a hard time hiding his disbelief. "I am not sure that Tepe would have become the leader of the band by killing Epesi. He would have a better chance to obtain that position by killing me. But do you think he had more than one reason to kill Epesi?" He was half hoping that Azar had more suspects than just Tepe. Kimacho was not too keen on questioning Epesi and Siri's "son."

---

Uhhhh…..

Azar’s blank expression suggested that he didn’t, but not quite wanting to admit it, he retorted sharply: “Maybe you should ask him that.”

Then his line of thought began racing. Names. Faces. Who were the other rogue guys? There was Tepe, yeah, this idiot detective and that headachy one. He didn’t think for a minute that it would be either of the girls – whatever their names were. Girls probably couldn’t even beat a male! Except maybe for Ursa…but she didn’t count!! Or…unless it was a Firekin female against a rogue male. Heck, that might be possible! Perfect too, for who would suspect it?

“Well, if it ain’t one of yours, maybe its one of ours. There’s plenty of lions here who might not like you or your gang, you know. I know this pride better than you. I know someone who’d kill even if it was just for fun, right?” Yes. He knew the one. The SCARY one. If anyone could commit murder, she could.

“Serafina. That’s her name. She’s one of the Safi kids. You know, the bad guys.” He should have really said ex-bad guys but, well, details! “I know her. She’s bad. Real bad. You better watch yourself round her, ‘specially if she’s got that other one with her…” Oh crap, what was her name? Uhhhh…. “Kenina. Yeah, that’s her. They’re sisters, see, total loonies.”  

[Kimaria]

He almost replied with a "maybe I will", but decided against it. There was no need to act immature around a lion who was clearly suffering from a serious lack of maturity. Still, he would consider what Azar had said about Tepe, even if he doubted that the darker lion had anything to do with this.

Kimacho was pleasantly surprised when Azar started on his own kin, already making the jump to pride members without selecting any of the other rogues in his group. He hadn't even brought up forgetful Mtenga, which was the first lion he would suspect had he been an outsider to that group. Nevertheless, he listened eagerly as Azar bragged about how well he knew the pride. Of course he would be able to identify those likely to kill others, but if only he would give him some names!

Ah, bingo! His ears perked when Azar revealed the name of this Firekin who could kill for fun - a lioness, surprisingly. Azar referred to her as "one of the bad guys", whatever that meant, but he assumed it was some sort of Firekin sect or group. Apparently this "bad Firekin" had a sister as well. "Serafina and Kenina," Kimacho repeated, testing the names. "How would I be able to identify them?"

---

Was this working? Was he actually playing this lion like a fool? His racing heart beat even faster than before, pounding against his rib cage.

"Just look for the ones with mad eyes!" Azar insisted. "It's sorta hard to describe them to you, you know? We're all white, black and red here." He hadn't actually spoken to Kenina before, but he'd spoken - and fought - with Serafina. Yes, if they got into trouble for this then that'd be great. That'd show her for throwing her weight around and challenging him. Him, the almighty Azar! "You'll know 'em when you see them. That Kenina, she has a striped face. Serafina. When you're close, you'll know it."

Oh, and just to push the point a bit further so that perhaps Kimacho would be distracted by other members and not point at him he decided to make things just a little more interesting. Hell, why not? It could only serve to help him, right? It would NOT do to be in the spotlight for this. Not do at all.

"Oh, and just so you know, I saw Serafina and that Epesi. They were arguing. She hit him and he got mad. They were fighting. Totally angry. See, perfect motive right there? What motive do I possibly have, huh? The glory of killing a rogue?" He snorted. "I don't think so."

Digging...

"Anyway, hadn't you better get to it? Oh, and, just in case I'm wrong - which I'm probably not - maybe you should question that other one. The one who came with you. The big headache." He growled. "No one likes him."  

[Kimaria]

Mad eyes? That was hardly a good enough description, but Azar did have a point. They were all white, black and red in this pride. He was tempted to ask for noticeable markings, but perhaps she didn't have any. Azar would have mentioned them if she had something specifically identifiable. A striped face and "mad eyes" would have to do. No doubt someone else in the pride could identify her if need be. That information, too, was filed away with the rest of Azar's testimony.

What interested him most was the apparent argument between Epesi and Serafina. According to Azar, the lioness had struck him and he 'got mad.' What had they been fighting about, he wondered. But that was something that he would ask Serafina, not Azar. He was tiring of questioning the lion, but he would make use of all that he had said. It was a start, and one that he had needed very badly.

"I see. Thank you for your help. I shall look into this." Kimacho would make no promises, especially not on leads from Azar. But he had someone to talk to, and he was going to take full advantage of that. He would go and speak to this Serafina, and then perhaps Mtenga and Tepe. With a final nod, he turned and headed back towards the pride. It was time to find "mad eyes" and her sister.

---

Shaking, releasing a shuddering breath, the red male took a few steps back and looked down at his dirtied pelt. A pelt covered in the blood of a dead lion. His eyes slid back to where the body had been, until they’d dragged it away.

Some had said that he ought to control his mouth, that he ought to think before he spoke. But had his mouth not gotten him out of this situation? Yes. It had. Or as far as he was concerned, it had.

Then he smiled and tried to mentally still the frantic pounding of his heart. It was okay. It was over now. Was he kidding himself? Yes he was. This was far from over and if he thought his mouth had saved him, he was badly mistaken.

/fin.