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

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

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[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]

[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.]

[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.

[LOOK HE'S HAVING A ROUGH TIME...]

...What?

[He finally takes a look around the room - yep, he is all alone now. Mondo are you five years old, what the hell, man.]

Do... Do you think this is funny...!? I have had quite enough of phone calls for one day!

That's all I am to you? Just another phone call?!

Of course not! But when you call like this instead of asking--!

[But he did ask. Last night. And Ishimaru refused to divulge all the details. It was partly because he was too tired to think straight by the time he got home, but at the same time... His brother's presence was a painful reminder of the fact that every time he got close to somebody... they did something like this.

And he would lose them and be alone again.

But to turn Mondo away would be to lose him also. He sighs, lowering his voice and looking towards the door.]

I... know I should tell you about this as well. I would much prefer to do it in person. You should have been the first person I told after the police. ...I'm sorry, Brother.

[Too bad none of that went through because HIS BATTERY GAVE OUT RIGHT AFTER HIS SIGHING.]

I called like this because it seems like the only way you're willing to even talk to anyone about this! You won't even hang up for a sec so you could give me an answer? I was just getting in line like all the rest of those bastards, you-

[BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.]

Edited (I don't know how to read and it's late) 2013-04-19 08:17 (UTC)

[He pulls the phone away from him and gives it a nasty look. Did he just... hang up on him?]

...

Seriously?! THAT'S HOW YOU TREAT ME, FUCKER!?! [He slams the pay phone hard on the receiver except it doesn't stay safely cradled in its position but bungees off and drags to the ground. Mondo doesn't care; he's livid.] Hanging up on me like that... What is this, some kind of fuckin' game to you?! I just wanted you to talk to me, damn it! Shit...

[He smashed his fist against the side of the booth and let it hang there. Why was he doing this? He's been hanging on a thread this entire time desperate to piece together all the things he saw and heard since last night only to get blown off again. Granted, he himself was being kind of a dick about the whole phone call thing, but you don't just hang up on your friends when they're trying to have a serious talk! He was righteously pissed and vacated the pay phone to go beat even more steam off by kicking a garbage bin over before heading back up to his room again to see what the hell Ishimaru thought he was doing. DON'T MAKE THIS FACE-TO-FACE TURN INTO A FIST-TO-FACE...]

Edited 2013-04-19 08:26 (UTC)

...Hello? [Why isn't he saying anything? Is this one of those disconnected calls? Was he hung up on? After about thirty seconds of silence (he gets that sometimes it's hard to find the right words for things, but that was more than enough time for Mondo to figure out what he was going to say), he finally pulls the phone away to check it...

Oh. It's off.

Oh, it's not turning back on.

Why couldn't the battery have run out several calls ago?! He doesn't have to do much digging around in his desk to find the cord - everything is very neatly organized, after all - and after plugging it in, he decides it would be best to track Mondo down and speak to him face-to-face. He's so sick of phones.

HE OPENS THE DOOR...

Just in time to be greeted with one very angry hulking gangster.]

[And in one second flat, congratulations! One very angry hulking gangster has just grabbed you by the collar and jerked you closer so he could have a word with you, Ishitmaru. Close enough to be within hair boner range. Jeez, those are quite the eyes you've got there, Mondo. Who knew such a pastel pretty color could possibly burn through steel?]

You have some nerve, hanging up on me like that...

[HURK. Way to disregard the several inches of height difference between you guys, bro. Ishimaru has to stand on the tips of his toes to keep his air from being cut off ~~or worse, his UNIFORM FROM RIPPING~~. Just gonna. Try to pry his hands off his collar.]

I didn't hang up! The battery stopped working...!

[WHO SAID HE WAS DISREGARDING IT?! Hearing this plausible explanation, Mondo exhales sharply and narrows his eyes, just to flash his indignation like he hadn't done that enough already. After holding it for a moment, he loosens his grip and lets the hall monitor go free.]

We need to talk. Now. I won't take no for an answer.

...I know.

[He backs away a little, both to allow Mondo back into the room and to safely readjust his collar and tie (which he is wearing much more loosely since almost being choked with it just the day before).]

What would you like to know? Surely you've already heard it from the news...

[He loses himself to another burst of frustration, stomping his way into the room and throwing his arm to the side vehemently.]

The news doesn't explain shit!! It was full of a bunch of maybes and speculations! They gave a damage report, all right, but it fails to tell me your side of the story! You were there. What actually happened?

[He's so sick of repeating this story, but if anyone deserves to hear it, it's definitely his best friend. So one last time, from the top... For all the good it'll do now.]

What happened was that we were approached by a group in the city and a fight broke out. Everything happened so quickly after the first strike, but it ended with... those shots being fired.

[That's where he prefers to end the story, but if it's Mondo, he can be more open about it. It's not like he'd be allowed to stop there, anyway. There's some really intense frowning at the carpet going on. He's gonna burn a hole through it if he keeps it up.]

If Vivian had not been there, I may be dead now. However, if I had kept all of us from going out into the city in the first place, nobody would be...!

[His expression quickly changes to one of plain defeat. ~~sadkickedpuppysprite.gif~~ The carpet is safe. For now.]

What if this incident casts the entire school in a bad light...? If this affects the other students and their safety in the city...

[So that's how he was gonna think? That this was all his fault and just because he ran into trouble he didn't want in the first place, the whole school would get a bad rep? Well, the second part might be true, but he despised hearing Ishimaru blame himself. It sounded an awful lot like how he blamed himself for Fujisaki's death even though the connection between him and that circumstance was so slim it couldn't even be said to exist.]

You're too damn quick to take responsibility when it's not your fault. So what if you went out into this crazy city? There's gonna be times where some of us have to go out there. You're saying the way we should all avoid our problems is to hide ourselves away inside this school? Fuck that.

[Ring anywhere close to home?]

I know you didn't want any part in this. But sometimes, shit just happens. If you want my opinion, I'm glad those bastards were put out before they could put you out instead. They were asking for it.

The well-being of the students is my responsibility!

[Not as part of a job description, not for monetary gain, but because that's always been the task he's willingly taken on.]

I'm not saying we should imprison ourselves in here... but there is a difference between taking a necessary risk and endangering yourself and others with reckless abandon! You of all people should understand!

[What he's thinking of in saying that is the fact that, as illegal as his own methods are, being a gang leader is still being a leader and so Mondo should understand what it's like to need to look out for those under his wing. Other incidents that might also hit a little close to home don't even cross Ishimaru's mind.]

Edited 2013-04-29 14:47 (UTC)

[You of... all... oh. Jabbed in a particularly sore spot of his heart, Mondo's teeth bare and he tries to exert control but his fury beats out, and he corners him against the wall he's closest to and slams a fist into him

...just barely skirting it past his face and colliding with the wall instead.]

Me, of all people... You'd go that far just to prove a point?!

[It's way too soon to have another fist flying at his face. He flinches away as it hits the wall ~~and busts right through it, good work~~, and a look not unlike fear flickers through his eyes.

He banishes that feeling as quickly as it came; after all, for all Mondo's aggressive intimidation, he can trust him. But that doubt was there, even for a split second, and he hates himself for it.]

I thought... you would be able to relate to that feeling! That's all...

[Not that Ishimaru's been any good at relating to anyone. He straightens up again, the uncertainty on his face replaced by his usual frown.]

Anyway, now you know what happened. That's all there is to it.

[The fist he launched at him a second ago splays out into a flat palm against the wall and slides down to meet his shoulder. He's still tense with the anger that erupted uncontrollably, and annoyed with how thin his skin was about that, but he can at least be placated knowing that his remark about recklessness was just one of Ishimaru's characteristics, to say things thoughtlessly without meaning any offense. He probably didn't mean it in the targeted way he was quick to reach a conclusion about.]

I'd say protecting yourselves against a threat like that is a necessary risk in itself. So stop feeling bad about it. Things could have been much worse.

[He's too tired to keep arguing about all the things he should have done to prevent that threat from looming over them in the first place. The fact is he didn't do them and no amount of whining and self-pity is going to change it.]

You're right... Besides, there's nothing to be done about what has already passed. I can only learn from it and prepare from whatever comes in the future!

[And he's... so worried about what might happen now.]

That's more like it. [With the hand rested on his shoulder he gives him a couple firm pats and retreats it to his side.]

...So what comes next? They gonna send you to court?

[There's a part of him that's a little disappointed to lose the comforting touch, but he's not really sure how to express that... so he doesn't.]

I don't know. The justice system here is not what I'm familiar with.

[But the justice system he is most familiar with WAS AWFUL.]

They said they would investigate the matter more thoroughly before reaching a decision. For now we are not to handle any weapons or to leave the city. [Not like he has anywhere to go.] I am also to make a report every few days until this is over.

...Whatever happens, I hope it doesn't come at a time that interferes with final exams... [W O W]

[Don't you think you have more pressing things to worry about than final exams? He wanted to say that, but it made sense he'd be concerned about exams, since he seemed to be fixated on studying relentlessly for them these days. God, the more he looks at him, the more tired and worn ragged he seems.]

Even if it did, wouldn't the school be a little more lenient in your case? They'd let you take exams at some other time if it came to that, right? Can't be helped if the law forces you out at an inconvenient time.

I'm not going to allow any exceptions to be made for me, no matter what the reason is!!

[There's got to be a line between stubborn and plain stupid, somewhere. He's definitely on the wrong side of it.]

No, I'm going to prove that even with this, I can focus on my responsibilities...! That's an important skill!

[video]

ONE HUNDRED PHONE CALLS LATER...

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