Cut 2

[phonomania.livejournal.com]

{Shiki is sitting on her bed. It's very simple, with no decoration or flourish, just white sheets and pillows on a white bed. There's a blue terry towel tossed over her neck, and her hair is still wet from being out of the shower. Shiki is also not wearing anything other than a button-up shirt and underwear, but this does not bother her at all.

In fact, what seems to be bothering her is the small container of strawberry Hagen-Daaz in between her knees. With one arm, she prys the lid off with some difficulty and peels the cardboard "wrapper" off with her teeth.

That's because the other arm is quite obviously missing and the loose sleeve is hanging at her side.

But it seems she really wants to eat the ice cream, despite the difficulty of eating it with only one arm. So she scrapes at the ice cream without a word, seeming oblivious to her surroundings, arm, or even her state of undress.}

Comments

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

[tilts his head to the side and looks around]

You need some help?

[phonomania.livejournal.com]

{Looks up mid-bite, setting the spoon down}

With?

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

[nods in her direction]

Your ice cream. Can't be all that easy.

[phonomania.livejournal.com]

...I'm managing. I usually don't eat cold things at all.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

Mind if I join you, then?

[phonomania.livejournal.com]

...

{She considers it, taking another bite before scooting over}

Sure.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

[hops off the plane, then reappears with a banana milkshake, and joins her]

I'm the Doctor, by the way.

[phonomania.livejournal.com]

Shiki. Ryogi Shiki.

{Another bite}

It's nice to meet you.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

And you, Shiki.

[takes a few sips of his milkshake]

You don't have to bring your whole bed to the Plane, you know. Plenty of chairs sitting around here.

[phonomania.livejournal.com]

I didn't think about it. And my bed is comfortable.

{Simply, after a pause} I'll just take it back when I'm done.

[didorothy]

[...well that's special. Why so strange, Plane? Sam, by the way, does not have much training for this sort of situation]

Ryogi Shiki, isn't it? Do you need help?

[phonomania.livejournal.com]

Shiki.

{She looks down at the ice cream, and then her arm before chuckling humorlessly}

Only if you know how to kill a ghost.

[didorothy]

I'm not very good at killing and I'm not very good at ghosts, sorry.

[phonomania.livejournal.com]

Then I'm fine. I only have to wait until tomorrow.

{She takes a quiet bite}

Why aren't you "good at killing"?

[didorothy]

I'm not supposed to be. I'm a cop. What will happen tomorrow?

[phonomania.livejournal.com]

Police kill too. Criminals. Murderers. Things like that.

{She nods to her arm lightly}

Tohko-san will have my new arm. I had to kill the old one.

[didorothy]

When there is no other possible choice. We--

[er, what?]

You what?

[phonomania.livejournal.com]

Kill.

{A shrug}

My real one got "bent" in the last case I worked, so Tohko-san made me a new one. This case, a ghost took control of it, tried to kill me with the arm, so I cut its lines.

{After a moment}

I cut it off.

[didorothy]

[mildly horrified]

And this is normal for you.

[phonomania.livejournal.com]

I guess so. I don't remember what "normal" for me is.

{Another bite}

[didorothy]

[and then Sam takes a metaphorical bite of a metaphorical hook]

Why not?

[phonomania.livejournal.com]

{There's a long pause as she eats more ice cream, almost seeming like she didn't hear him, but finally speaks up}

I was in a traffic accident. A coma for two years. I woke up, and I even though I have my memories, they don't feel like they belong to me. I don't feel anything when I see my parents. I know that they are because my memories say that they are, but they're strangers. The only person that I "know" is a classmate that I barely have any memories of.

So I work with Kokutou. I don't have anything else to do.

[didorothy]

[amnesia leading to inability to connect to people? Weird. This place is strange. ...yes, he's been thinking that for nearly a year. The point still stands!]

I'm... sorry. Who's Kokutou, again?

[phonomania.livejournal.com]

The only person that I "know". A friend. A friend that gets himself into trouble too easily.

[didorothy]

I have a few friends like that. And he... what do you mean by "knowing"? You said you didn't really know your parents, even if you knew they were your parents.

[phonomania.livejournal.com]

Then for Kokutou, it's the opposite. My memories are scattered of Kokutou before the accident, but I feel like I know him and that he's my friend. He's the only one like that.

[didorothy]

[nods, getting what she means though not so much why it is what it is] What about making new mates since what happened?

[a beat]

And are you sure you don't need help with... [indicates the ice cream and her arm]

[phonomania.livejournal.com]

{Another bite, shaking her head once again to silently say that she doesn't need help}

I don't like people. Kokutou is plenty. A handful, like I said. He's the one that got his soul taken by the ghost, after all. The one that wouldn't let me kill that girl.

{Frowns} He's a pain in the ass, really.

[didorothy]

[you know what? I can't reply to this tag. Sam honestly has no words. Congratulations, Shiki.]

[phonomania.livejournal.com]

{She feels so accomplished. So she keeps eating her ice cream.}

That bothers you?

[didorothy]

...Uhm... I don't... why did you want to kill that girl? Whoever she is.

[phonomania.livejournal.com]

Asagami Fujino.

{A pause}

We received a case asking for the girl to be captured. Alive, preferably, but we were told that if she resisted even a bit, to kill her. She was responsible for the murder of nine gang members. We found out later that they were killed because a group of ten of them had been raping and abusing her for six months or so as well as she had a rare condition where she had no sense of feeling or pain. At some point, she was struck in the back, and her sense of pain and feeling returned, as well as powers that had been dormant, and apparently connected to her sense of pain.

She bent the nine, and went out to get the tenth. But she started to kill random people, and I met her right after one. She was enjoying killing them. So she was dangerous. She ran, we met again, and fought. That's how I lost my real arm. She bent that so that it was like a corkscrew. The bridge collapsed when she gained clairvoyance and bent the whole thing, and almost killed herself from the rubble.

But I didn't kill her. She's alive, I assume. We don't keep up with clients.

[didorothy]

[Sam's first thought: "I need whisky"]

Uhm... I'm ... sorry about those arms. Will she kill again?

[phonomania.livejournal.com]

{Shrugs}

If she does, then it's not mine or Tohko-san's problem. We did our job and got paid. That's all we're responsible for.

But Kokutou says that she's doing well. {Which tells you the kind of guy that Kokutou is}

[didorothy]

[kind of staring again a bit]

...Uh.

[phonomania.livejournal.com]

{She sighs, changing back to her current situation since she doesn't want to talk about Kokutou}

The ghost is using suggestion to cause girls to kill themselves by throwing themselves off the Fujyou building. It's been seven suicides, so we can't just sit by and watch anymore. The police haven't noticed the similarity between all of them, so we're stopping this case for them.

[didorothy]

What happens to the ghost?

[phonomania.livejournal.com]

...I don't know. Maybe it goes to the afterlife, or maybe I'm destroying the soul all together.

[didorothy]

Doesn't matter to you.

[it's not judging and not asserting; it's a suggestion without the questioning raise]

[phonomania.livejournal.com]

If I had an answer to that question, it might. If I knew that I destroyed the soul, I wouldn't cut its lines.

[didorothy]

[raises his eyebrows]

But not knowing either way, it's all right?

[phonomania.livejournal.com]

Because there's no way to find that out, yes. To live, you have to take chances, and it's because of those chances that we die, isn't it?

[didorothy]

[he considers, then nods]

You make the best choice you can with what you know.

[phonomania.livejournal.com]

I don't kill people for fun. It's not justice either. But I kill "people" because normal people can't deal with them.

[didorothy]

You're right; we can't.

[rubs his neck; he doesn't know what to say, or even quite what he thinks of her and her killings]