More ugly news reports + one patronizing [video] message courtesy of Seth Richardson

[stay_classy_cat]

A casual Monday outing turned tragic when two men were brutally gunned down in front of Malo's Gun and Ammunition mart. The victims; Kaplan Stridehr and Marple Dethrris were found dead with a single Aperture-Brand Resolution Pellet to the head. A third victim, Hendorff Ditherrs, was found at the scene asphyxiated to death. All three of the victims regularly donated community service hours to the FLUDD orphanage and were cherished by their grieving families.

The murder suspects, Kiyotaka Ishimaru, Vivan Johnson, and Rick Johnson, all attend Smash Academy and have been interrogated at least once by the FDCPD. Rick has been hospitalized for the time being with life-threatening injuries, though his condition is stable. He will be questioned when he regains consciousness. It's unclear if his injuries were inflicted in self-defense, or by the other two Smash Academy students in the middle of the attack.

The Smash Academy students claim they were the ones who acted in self defense, but FDCPD has not reached a clear verdict yet to a very messy and terrible situation.

"It's not completely clear this was in self defense." says the police chief. "If you're not looking to kill, you don't put a bullet in someone's head."

Several eye witnesses to the attack also claim the smaller student, Vivian, was the one who open fired and murdered the victims, unprovoked. All three are on juvenile preemptive probation until further investigations are finished. It should be worth noting, again, these were non-human students of Smash Academy, a fighting school that accepts many different kinds of unnatural, humanoid creatures. They could still be considered dangerous despite the probation. Aperture Science is also being questioned for product deficiency, but has not returned any of our calls.

[Lakitu, an unnatural, humanoid turtle man, shuffles the papers on his desk and prepares for the next, possibly vaguely related news story.]

An abandoned church on the east side of the city was mysteriously engulfed in flames last night. Fire accelerants were noted in the area, suggesting that this was no accident. It's uncertain if this incident is related to the gun attack, but non-human terrorists are suspected given the target. If you have any important clues or tips to report, please call the FDCPD immediately.

It's truly terrible this historic building has been reduced to tinder and ashes. Residents are outraged and are calling for Martial law. Mayor Tabuu is taking this into consideration with rising rates of violence and crime, but states he is not likely to come to a decision or see any action result for a least a month, especially given the complicated nature of FDC. Martial law would necessitate the need for an outsourced, contracted military, and the Mayor wants to ensure he has the best for the job.

---

[video]

[Seth appears on video, close up and fiddling with the camera before settling in his seat, a grim expression on his face.]

In case you weren't aware about a certain fiasco that happened between Mary and Vianca a while ago, a new development has recently come to my attention, and I for one am ashamed. Shame on you!

Honestly, she's just a child and didn't know any better. That's no reason for anyone to go antagonize and bully her! I want to think better of our student body.

You're all so quick to turn a blind eye when that murderous swordsman returned to campus. You hardly bat an eyelash at knowing there's at least three new and different murder suspects residing right here! Have any of you even seen the news lately? They're right here, living amongst you all--murderers as your very neighbors. But the moment a naive little girl does something she didn't even know was wrong you ostracize her unfairly. I don't want to name names but you know who you are.

Everyone's double standards here are truly unsettling. You should all think on your sins.

[Ahem. He clears his throat and adjusts his collar, as if to clear out all that ~undignified emotional outpouring~]

Anyway, I apologize if any of that came across as harsh or blunt, and Mary's poor name shouldn't be dragged through the mud any longer. Mary has all my condolences, I wish her the best and above all that this doesn't happen again. That was a while ago anyway--old news. She should know better by now.

I'll see to it personally.

Comments

MEANWHILE IN BE-15

[forgetbeam]

[You don't even know how badly he's freaking out right now. All he can think about since it happened is trials and executions. AND NOW IT'S ALL OVER THE NEWS.

He doesn't even care that he's being mislabeled as a non-human because being mislabeled as a murder suspect is kind of a bigger deal. So it knowing that he's definitely partially responsible for all of this AUGHHHHHHHH]

[testgasm]

[ring ring kiyotan

ring ring]

[forgetbeam]

[He just kinda stares at his broken phone for the first few rings. What if it's his parents finally calling back? What should he say? "I'm glad you guys are alive but I can't go back to Japan now I'm kind of involved in a murder case

actually I've been involved in so many murder cases

please help me"

Well, he's gonna... answer anyway.]

...Hello?

[testgasm]

[moshi moshi

wheatley

desu]

Are you going to jail? Because I could've told you something like that would happen, hanging around the two of them.

[trumped_card]

[RING RING

PICK UP THE PHONE]

[forgetbeam]

[GOD IF IT'S WHEATLEY AGAIN--

And it probably is because he's the only one who ever calls...]

Hello...?

[trumped_card]

[Guess who's not her usual calm and collected self this morning/after/evening? Sure, she sounds normal, but it's clear there's a bit of worry seeping through her tone.]

Ishimaru, it's Celes. I saw the news.

Please tell me this isn't as bad as I think it is.

[obfuskate]

[ sorry kiyotaka-kun you've got another phone call

hello ishimaru

yes this is hedgehoge ]

[forgetbeam]

[HOW ARE PEOPLE EVEN GETTING THIS NUMBER HE JUST WANTS TO STUDY

so he doesn't have to think about this

uuuu...u...]

Hello.

[obfuskate]

Kiyotaka.

[ Hey you're on the records buddy, he's got your number. Privacy? What's that? ]

We need to talk. About Vivian.

...

Are you injured, first and foremost? [ That small peek into the soft side of his heart. After all, he did get mixed up in a bad way. ]

[iksb]

[ring ring

pick up ishimaru

please. mukuro made a vow not to lose any of you.]

[forgetbeam]

[know what ishimaru would like to lose right now

ALL THE POWER TO HIS PHONE

Seriously, it's one call right after the other and he's not sure how much more interrogation he can take.]

...Hello.

[iksb]

Don't panic, Ishimaru-kun.

[Mukuro's voice is calm and level, completely unphased by what she was seeing on her television.]

I do not believe that you did this.

[rebut]

[ PICK UP THE PHONE YOU NERD ]

[rebut]

[ On a more IC note, at the moment, Naegi is pacing back and forth, frantically adding to the number of people trying to contact Ishimaru by phone. Seriously, what in the world happened there to make Ishimaru a murder suspect? ]

[forgetbeam]

[WOW HE CANNOT EVEN AFFORD THIS PHONE BILL]

Hello?

[rebut]

[ WE CAN DEAL WITH BILLS AFTER THE MURDER CHARGE IS DEALT WITH ]

Ishimaru-kun? It's Naegi. I heard the news, and just... I don't think you could do that, but they're sure trying hard to pin it on you and Ms. and Mr. Johnson. What happened?

ONE HUNDRED PHONE CALLS LATER...

[butterbelieveamanspromise]

[He'd been squirming around his dorm for freaking ever waiting for people to stop calling Ishimaru so he could have his turn. When the phone calls reached six consecutive rings of people demanding to talk to him about the things HE wanted to talk with him about, Mondo threw up his hands and decided this was RIDICULOUS, so he left the room in a butthurt fury and went to go pick up a phone and call him as a passive-aggressive reminder of who REALLY deserved an explanation around here. Maybe THEN he'd finally get through to him. He was tired of feeling like he was being thrown on the backburner in favor of other people.

so pick it up already dickmunch before you get gently caressed up]

[forgetbeam]

[The worst part is probably that

he didn't

even

notice that Mondo left

He hasn't really had the chance to pay attention to anything but his phone, and IT'S RINGING AGAIN AUGH.]

Hello.

[He's been sounding progressively more exhausted each time he answers.]

[butterbelieveamanspromise]

[Oh come on even with the way he was flaunting his displeasure by rolling around on his bed and pacing around the room and making faces at him and shit he STILL gets ignored?!?

tough break oowada]

Yo. Long time no see, brother.

[duodeca]

[Noel tried to call Ishimaru but kept getting busy tones every time! And now it seems that his phone is off because she got his voicemail... Nothing else can be done at this point than just leaving a message. She waits for the tone, then takes a deep breath and begins.]

Um, Kiyotaka. This is Noel Vermillion. Are you alright? I don't know what happened, but please call me as soon as you can. That's all, bye-bye.

[There's a sigh before she finally hangs up. You better fucking call her back soon, Ishimaru, or else she'll be worried all day.]

[forgetbeam]

[Just give it a few hours. His phone needs to charge first and he has a little brother-related damage control to deal with.

But sure enough, he does get her message, and he returns the call.]

Suddenly...

[voltecpower]

[Ishimaru's school-assigned personal laptop would then start to emit an unusual soft buzzing noise, a sign of something interfering with the electronics. The screen display flickers slightly. A voice could be heard over the buzzing coming through the speakers...]

Excuse me, Mister Ishimaru... Are you there?

Belatedly...

[forgetbeam]

[WHAT THE-

That's new... He's pretty sure he didn't click anything, considering he's not even using his computer at the moment (but it is open in case he needs to look anything up for homework; waiting for it to boot up takes too long).

But he kinda recognizes the voice.]

Yes, I am here!

[voltecpower]

[The digital display would flicker and darken as the visual feed of the graphical interface became confused, a foreign entity jamming the display with his presence. Ultimately, something resembling a cloud of multicolored pixels--as opposed to the more familiar static which would be seen on an analog display--began to form in the center of the screen, and then a face, as though emerging from beneath the surface of some strange digital fluid, faded into view at its center. A pair of blue eyes focused on Ishimaru.]

...Um, hello.