thenearshore | [Closed] We could spend our whole lives waiting for justice to be done

Entry tags:

[Closed] We could spend our whole lives waiting for justice to be done

Who: Ginia and Shun
When: Some time around November 18th-19th
Where: Around the Near Shore
What: Ginia and Shun pick up and old lead and decide to pay a vice-principal responsible for draining the life out of children a visit... if they can find him.
Warnings: Violence, murder.

It's not that Ginia wants to personally punch the vice-principal. It's entirely possible the creep is long dead from the hands of someone else - Far Shore justice, Near Shore justice, who knows - or has long fled the area. But maybe, maybe he's still around and they can find out whether he was the first sign of bigger problems. And just maybe he'll say the wrong thing and Ginia can put her fist in his face.

It's not that she wants to punch him, but dammit, he was attacking children. There aren't enough punches in the world for that creep.

The thought carries Ginia from the run from Caster's temple to Shun's. Her backpack is a prepared for survelliance; two note pads, several pens and pencils, laptop, camera gear, battery pack, roll of duct tape. As always, her knife is in the sheath at her back, but it's more out of habit than out of a feeling of necessity.

She slows as she approaches his temple, keeping an eye on the vultures in the trees as she sends a message to Shun.

Just outside.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Bent over and wheezing, the man is in no shape to defend against Shun's blow. He doesn't even see it coming; it strikes as accurately as Shun had aimed it, and he crumples.]

[Ginia moves to use her body as a shield from the street, leaning over him like she's concerned about a friend that's had too much to drink. Her signs are close to her chest as she looks at Shun.]

I figure we'll grab his keys and wallet and anything else of use on him, but what should we do with him? Can you teleport him somewhere?

[Shun glances over their surroundings to see if anyone noticed the commotion, but it seems their presence has served to make it slip free of notice.]

I can't teleport living people, but I figured we should at least take him with us back to his apartment. If we find anything in there he's been using for magic and we're not familiar with it, then for now he's more useful to us alive than dead.

[For now. It's unlikely that's going to continue beyond when they've searched his apartment.]

A good thing we have duct tape.

[Though that's for later. For now, the best course of action is to continue to play the part of supportive friends helping a drunk friend back to his apartment. Ginia hoists the man to his feet and slings his arm over her shoulders. A pity he'd draw attention if she carried him; it'd be easier hauling him on her shoulders.]

Why don't you get started searching his apartment while I haul him back? No need for both of us to waste time dragging him. I'll text when I'm close.

[Well, she's not wrong about the duct tape. It would definitely save them some time and annoyance to start checking the apartment prior to having dragged him back there, too, and Shun inclines his head slightly in agreement with the suggestion.]

It'll take a bit of time to figure out exactly which one it is, as well, since I'll have to compare it to the view in that photo. I'll tell you which one it is when you text.

[With that, he disappears from the sidewalk, having teleported back to where they originally appeared.]

[Sure would be nice if shinki could teleport at will. Ginia huffs as Shun vanishes, lugging the vice-principal back toward his apartment. Once the crowd thins out enough and she can duck into an alley, she hauls him onto her back and carries him the rest of the way. When she finally reaches the apartment, she's civil enough to seat him against the building instead of dumping him on the ground, keeping an eye on him as she texts Shun.]

Arrived. What room?

[Shun texts her back both the room number and a description of where it would be visible from the outside, in case she wants to come in that way instead. As expected from the photo that brought them here, it's a good few floors up.

Shun has already canvassed most of the place by the time she gets there, considering the room is bare of most everything other than magical supplies. The suitcase the man appears to have been living out of has clearly been ransacked and the contents carelessly tossed back in, and Shun is leafing through an old book on demonology with a bookmark or two in it.]

[Ginia rifles through the man's pockets for his keys, pausing to check his mailbox - all junk mail - before heading up. Once she's in the apartment, she drops him on the couch and removes his shoes and belt before binding his ankles and wrists and slapping a piece of duct tape over his mouth.

Now for the apartment. Ginia takes out her camera and thoroughly documents everything before she begins digging through the paraphernalia. She gingerly looks at the dried herbs and animal parts laid out on a canvas mat. So Shun doesn't need to look her way, she pulls out her phone and types up a message to play.]

I figure we're stripping this place, but mind if I take the plants and animal parts for Caster to identify once he's awake? Archer might know something too.

[Shun glances over anyway, just to make sure he knows where everyone in the room is, and nods slightly in response to the message.]

He's got a hell of a lot more chance of identifying it than I do. But I'm thinking I'll keep hold of these books. There might be some useful information in them, especially since the stuff he's got bookmarked is all for trying to avoid or repel demons.

[This guy certainly isn't going to have a use for them after this one way or another.] There's not much else other than these and the supplies, though. I doubt we're going to need this guy for anything else.

I'd like to take one or two if you don't mind, but I figured we'd share information anyway.

[As long as the books are off the Near Shore, Ginia doesn't care how they divide everything. She gives the room another look over, already planning out how to pack up, eyes falling back on the vice-principal, still unconscious. She stands and moves next to Shun's side, tilting her head at the man.]

You said you couldn't move living bodies, right? I'm willing to take care of him if you dispose of him.

[There's already enough blood on her hands. What's one more? At least he's a known scumbag.]

That's fine. It'll probably take me a while to go through them all anyway. [There's a surprising number of them here, considering what little else there is, so he doubts handing a few off is going to be an issue.

Shun glances over to the man at the question of what to do with him, though. He has killed someone in this world before, but he imagines Ginia probably has more experience with it...and he can't deny that he's better for disposing of a corpse.

The question he asks back, however, may be a somewhat unexpected one given the context.] Is there a flowerbed outside?

There were some decorative shrubs toward the entrance if that counts.

[If not, there's probably something not too far away that should fit Shun's requirements. If all else fails, there's always dropping him into the bay. But before Ginia turns a man into a body, she begins packing up her share of the findings. Two of the smaller books go into the bottom of the bag, followed by carefully wrapping up the dried herbs up in whatever cloth they're laying on, borrowing a shirt from the suitcase to wrap up the remaining herbs and animal parts.

Candles, chalk, the ink and paper, the rest is also carefully bundled into her backpack, the papers are pressed in with her laptop to keep them flat as possible. Ginia works meticulously, but perhaps she's also delaying the inevitable.

She doesn't want to kill him because it's an unpleasant task, but it's also a necessary one. He's an unrepentant threat and if left alive, can continue to be one. It's less tying up a loose end and more burning the strings entirely. It's also better she handles it than letting Shun kill him. It's not that Shun needs protecting, but the idea of letting someone dirty their hands while she stands around doesn't sit well.

When there's no other way to delay things, Ginia checks on the vice-principal. He's still unconscious, so perhaps he won't even notice a thing. She hauls him up on her shoulders and carries him to the small apartment bathroom, laying him on the floor over the drain. Drawing her knife, she grips his shoulders and drives the knife into the base of his neck, severing the brain stem in one precise blow. Ginia counts to ten before pulling out her knife, angling the wound into the drain and checking for a pulse. Finding nothing, she pulls down the showerhead and turns the water to cold, cleaning off her knife and helping rinse the blood down the drain.

Once the blood flow has stopped enough, Ginia presses a strip of duct tape to the wound to prevent any future blood drips when he's moved. Her work done, she rejoins Shun.]

All yours.

[It's quick, at least, which is probably more than the guy deserves considering what he'd tried to do with those kids. Shun watches it happen with an expression of detachment on his face, as if he's used to this kind of situation by now.

Once Ginia is done sorting him out, Shun closes the book he's looking at and sets it aside.]

I'll see what's around. [He slides the balcony door open and leaps upwards, heading for the roof so he has a better vantage point. There seems to be a garden of some sort over a few streets from this place, and once he spots that, Shun leaps down the balconies again and comes back in, heading over to grab the body.]

Found something that'll work. Though it's just so we can make some use out of him instead of nothing at all.

[Ginia nods, trusting him to dispose of the body the best way he sees fit. She's not curious to find out how he'll do it; innate ability, god ability, it doesn't matter. He's dead, her part is done, rather than stand around and watch, it's better to finish packing up the apartment.]

I'll make sure there's nothing in the apartment that'll look suspicious if it's left behind. If everyone thinks he skipped town, all the better.

[She glances at the body, feeling nothing but a vague sense of regret that his life ended this way. Shouldn't have hurt children. Should have regret his actions and tried to repent in some way. If there's any unease, it's over telling Archer and eventually Caster.

Strange how only a few days after telling Archer she didn't want to kill unless it was necessary, she finds herself looking at another body.]

[Shun inclines his head, trusting that Ginia will be able to take care of it as he grabs the body by the scruff of the clothes and starts carrying him out. Shun's clearly stronger than his figure makes him look, because he seems to be exerting basically no effort to carry the man.]

They definitely won't find a body.

[He leaps up and over the balcony again, and disappears from view, leaping from rooftop to rooftop until he gets to the park. There's a large bed of lilies wilted from the winter cold, and Shun lays the dead man down in the soil before laying his hands against the dirt.

The lilies perk up, petals unfurling, not quite enough to look supernatural but plenty enough to unwind the damage winter has done. It's only after Shun's satisfied with their health that he instead moves his hands to the corpse, laying both on the torso and focusing his attention.

The body itself goes within a few seconds, softer parts rotting easily and splitting apart before rapidly shrivelling into dust and falling into the soil. The fibers of the man's clothing go mouldy and begin to separate, withering away not that long after. The bones take that little bit longer from their resilience, but eventually, they begin to crack and crumble, falling into dust from the inside out as if thousands of years old. What's last to go is the tape, ironically enough - inorganic materials are much harder for Shun to work his powers on, but eventually that too comes apart, returning to the soil and leaving no trace of there having been anything present in the first place.

Shun only spares the briefest of glances to the patch of land before leaping back up to the rooftops and returning to the man's apartment, coming back in from the balcony and immediately heading over to wash his hands. He didn't actually touch any of the worst parts, but he did still need to leave his hands on the body for every stage of that.]

[They might not find a body, but best not to give them a reason to look for one either. As Shun disposes of the vice-principal, Ginia goes through the apartment again in search of things a person would reasonably take with them if they had to leave without notice. The toiletries are unremarkable enough a person would reasonable replace them, though there's a towel and electric shaver worth grabbing. The kitchen is bare bones too. Ginia throws the last belongings in the suitcase and zips it up as Shun comes back. She watches him wash his hands, but keeps any commentary to herself.]

Remaining books are all yours. I figured we'd grab his suitcase and do one last look over before disposing it on the Far Shore side. I think we're done here though.

[Shun glances over what's left in the apartment - transporting the books might take a trip or two, but otherwise there's nothing really left other than what he assumes has been packed into the suitcase.

He glances over to it at the suggestion, weighing up the size. It'd be difficult, but less likely to get stumbled upon if he dealt with that too.]

I might be able to get rid of it as well. There are still people over there who'll complain about someone getting what was coming to them. [Annoying more than actually detrimental, but still, Shun would prefer to avoid it if he can.]

Not at my temple.

[Granted, Caster is still asleep and she hasn't spoken to Lancer about her trip through the forest, but she knows Archer's stance on murder fairly well. She's certain he wouldn't bat an eye at executing someone that had hurt children and summoned a demon or destroying evidence.]

I think we can fit a few of the books in the suitcase, carry the remaining. It'll save us a trip. Honestly, I think I'm done with this place.

I suppose if you were going to just throw it in there somewhere, it'd work well enough. [Neither Fubuki or Chinatsu are exactly that cracked on murder on Shun's end, and even Reisi would probably want to question him about it to make sure it was just.

Shun can agree with being done with the place, though, and he lets out a faint sigh and inclines his head.]

It's not much of a place to be coming back to. At least that guy won't be hurting anyone else.

[If the place wasn't an apartment in a larger building and instead a single building the vice-principal was the sole inhabitant of, Ginia would consider razing the place to the ground. However, arson draws too much attention. He's dead, they have books and information and a demon-summoning ritual, it'll do.

Between the suitcase, Ginia's backpack, and carrying what they can in their arms, they manage to take all of the belongings and books. Time to go back to the Far Shore.

Good riddance.]

[Once they've gathered everything together, Shun reaches out to touch Ginia's arm to teleport them back to the Far Shore. When they arrive, it's not on his temple ground, but in a slightly out of the way area between Central and Northeast District. He'd rather not unintentionally trap Ginia into having to help explain the situation to his shinki if one of them spotted them returning.]

We should be fine from here once we sort out the books. [Shun might have to employ his coat as a temporary carry bag or something, but hopefully they'll manage without him having to make the return to his temple too obvious.]

[There's truly no better way to foster cross-temple relationships than having to explain why you're lugging a suitcase full of the clothes of an adult man and demonology books around.

Ginia creates a stack of books from the ones in the suitcase and in her arms on top of the suitcase. There's four in her backpack, but she was going to hold onto a few anyway.]

Think you can manage the remaining books in a trip or two? Otherwise I can take a few more and bring them by later or let you know what I find. I promise I won't try summoning anything on my own.

[A wry smile accompanies her signs. It's a joke, really.]

It should be fine like that. [Without any real preamble, Shun starts to remove his coat and fold it into something akin to a carrying pouch. Considering the size of the coat, if he's careful about how he places them he should be able to do the books in one trip.]

There's a library in my temple, so I just need to get them in there. I'd just rather not disturb my shinki with it.

[He doesn't want to lie, and avoiding the truth is much harder if he's caught in the act like that.]

[With the books stored away, Ginia zips up the suitcase and tests the weight. The bag is bulky in shape, but it's light itself considering it's mostly clothes inside. Maybe if there's nothing too distinct, it'll be better taking everything to a donation site or second-hand store. There, he can actually do some good in his death.]

I'll leave you to things then. I'll let you know as soon as I find anything interesting, though it might be a bit. Tracking some cultists tomorrow.

[Shun hefts the books over his back, apparently not troubled by the weight. He does take one last glance over the suitcase as Ginia closes it, but he doubts it's going to have any further relevance to them.]

Alright. I'll take care of this and let you know if I find anything useful in the books.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Closed] We could spend our whole lives waiting for justice to be done

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

CW: Murder

no subject

no subject

cw: graphic body decomposition

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject