smashacademy | 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

[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!

[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.

[WHAT... That's new. He's used to the faces from the video feeds, he's used to Alter Ego's face popping up from time to time, but nothing quite like this.

At... least it's not his phone?!]

Good afternoon.

[Man. Really unusual and unexpected things always throw him off.]

Is there something that you need?

[As the "static" cleared away, it would appear that Pulse himself were just on the other side of the screen, the face and head being exact in scale to his real head and face. Of course, the truth was that he was just on the other side of the screen, and could poke his head right through to the space in Ishimaru's bedroom, except that he had a sense of manners in regard to entering other people's spaces and wouldn't do so unless he was asked to. Instead, he remained where he was, inside the memory space of Ishimaru's laptop, and addressed him from there. His expression was that of concern.]

Good... Good afternoon. Um.

[He cleared his throat.]

I'm here, sir, because... I wanted to hear from you... about what happened.

[Sometimes, he had a problem with tact...]

Ah... Again...

[He should have seen that one coming. If he had a hundred yen for every time he was asked that today he'd be able to pay off his family's debts without a problem.*

*An extreme exaggeration, but it sure feels like it might as well be true.]

There was a fight in the city and people were killed. There is not much I can say that the news did not cover. However... it did not mention that those men were under the influence of drugs.

[Or that he's actually a human, but that seems less important.]

The witnesses were not reliable, either...!

[Pulse remained where he was for a few seconds, silent and still, his blue eyes focused on Ishimaru's face, a small frown forming on his own. Eventually, he closed his eyes and nodded.]

Mister Ishimaru, I believe you. When you say it, I believe you. I feel sorry that this happened to you and your friends, and that you ended up in so much trouble...

I wish there was something I could do. I wish I had been able to do something to prevent it.

What happened was not your responsibility to prevent! If... there is anything you can do now, it's to make sure that you never end up in the same situation!

[He's always believed in leading by example. He just never wanted to be an example of what not to do... The thought is more than a little shameful.]

[Pulse did not have the capability of putting bullets through people's heads--his expertise was mostly focused toward rendering people unconscious, destroying programs and causing objects to explode--though his plans didn't involve anyone getting hurt at all.]

Sir... I can assure you... What happened there... I won't let it happen again.

Good! Be on the lookout for our fellow students, as well!

[YEAH. DON'T GET IN TROUBLE IN THE NEAR FUTURE, KID.]

So. Is that everything?

Yes, sir.

[He could definitely guarantee the being on the lookout part, but he couldn't promise anything else. Trouble had a bad habit of finding him.]

Ah... Sir.

[There was a lot more he wanted to know, more that he wanted to ask Ishimaru, but he had noticed how rattled he appeared to be... Pulse kind of sucked when it came to reading other people's emotions, and stuff like this usually registered to him rather late. But then, he didn't want to take off too soon, either...]

...If there's anything you need that I could help you with, sir, just let me know. I'll be... in here.

[He raised a hand in salute.]

[You have a kindred KY spirit here, Pulse. As it is, Ishimaru figures he's just as straight to the point as he is. Which he thinks is a good trait to have!

He returns the salute automatically, though he does lower his hand with a little awkward hesitation.]

Do you mean in... my computer specifically?

Oh, I mean... down here, I guess... in the Network.

...But if you needed me to stay here in your computer for a while, I could.

Oh, I see now!

[So he's pretty much like Alter Ego after all... Technology is really something, isn't it. Even his coding textbook says nothing about all this.

Anyway, he's been so overwhelmed by the steady stream of people questioning his state of being that he's going to have to decline. Especially since he feels weird about taking up so much time from everyone anyway. He's not used to that kind of attention...]

That is alright! I will contact you should anything come up!

Yes, sir!

[For a second, it appeared that he was turning to leave... but in the blink of an eye, he was gone, and the screen faded back to its normal display.]

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

[video]

Belatedly...

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