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

STOP. REACTION TIME.

[butterbelieveamanspromise]

[The night before had been... well, a night for sure. The evening rolled on and Ishimaru, who typically returned to his dorm well before his designated bedtime, especially these days nearing finals when he was SUPER bent on studying his brains out, didn't return. Every passing hour installed more questions and concerns in Mondo's head. Where the hell was he? It wasn't like him at all to be out late, past curfew no less. No one cherished and obeyed the school rules as much as that guy, and to find him deliberately disobeying them...? It was almost unthinkable. He'd searched the school twice- checked the library (it was closed), classrooms, the dorm building a couple times over... All was eerily devoid of Ishimaru. You'd think with a pair of lungs like his you'd at least hear him chastising someone for doing something wrong by now. It wasn't until midnight or so that Ishimaru returned soaked in blood (much to Mondo's horror, confusion, and disbelief) and even after being interrogated relentlessly unable to say more than that he'd been caught up in a fight, but he couldn't articulate it well at the time and promised to tell him more of the story soon. Well, okay, but now his head was filled to the brim with even more questions. Why the fuck was there so much blood?!

Unfortunately, the news story caught up with him before Ishimaru could.

At first, it was nothing but a boring old newsflash. The words that sent ice through his blood sounded a little like, "The murder suspects, Kiyotaka Ishimaru, Vivian blah blah attend Smash Academy..."

murder - blood-stained clothes, the disturbed face he wore when he came in. No way... it couldn't be!! The ice spread to his heart and chilled it. His mind, however, was hot and racing. Murder had been quite a common theme with his life- especially lately, and it was easy to jump right along with this conclusion. It didn't stop being shocking. His attention was perked acutely for the rest of the story, and he could breathe again when he heard "self-defense" and that it was this Vivian student who fired the shots, but even that wasn't entirely satisfying to hear because that's not a magical ticket to getting out of potential consequences for this. Look, the police were already all over him apparently, and he knew the police well enough to know that they could be complete asswipes. Shit shit shit shit this was bad.

Also... non-human? Uh. He was sure Ishimaru was pretty human. Anyway.

He had no time to spare. He had to badger Ishimaru about this all over again, and this time he wasn't taking no for an answer. He'd beat the words out of him if he had to. Unfortunately for Mondo, his bro was a little too hung up to talk with him about it. You know, since his infernal cell phone rang just before he could spit any words out. And now he's talking about the things HE wanted to talk with him about. Stubbornly, and with obvious contempt, he waited for his phone call to end, despite how tempted he was to yank it right out of his hands. AGAIN. (hey that was that one asshole who calls at 3 AM on the other end right because no wonder the urge was so strong).]

[forgetbeam]

[yeah he's just gonna take a couple more calls first

like every time he starts to explain something

this phone is fucking terrible]