A Mirthless Christmas Eve

[strawberrypunch]

[Happy Christmas Eve Retrospect, or at least those of you who celebrate! At a bit after 5PM, a certain text message will pop up from one Tatsuma Hiyuu.]

At around 5PM a black toyota highlander struck and killed an old couple near freshens.

I need to find it. If you see it tell me.

Please.

[And that’s all he wrote.]

((OOC: Tatsuma will be unsuccessful in hunting down the owner of the car himself, but he is going to go fight some people. If you'd like your character to get involved beyond texting him feel free to hit me up at danidanidanica!))

Comments

Text

[bitemefightme]

Tatsuma?

Where are you? Are you okay?

Shit...

Which way did they go? I'll help you get them.

[Orion is so ready to go. Tatsuma is nice and fairly quiet from what he's observed. Whatever happened, Tatsuma didn't deserve to have it happen to him. He's on Tatsuma's side and will go out of his way to help in every way possible right now.]

Text

[strawberrypunch]

[It's a good thing for voice to text because he is not stopping right now.]

I'm following. They went north.

[No answer for if he's okay or not, because physically he's fine, but everything else may as well be cracking into pieces right now, that sturdy rock crumbling at last.]

Text

[bitemefightme]

[North of Freshens. Shit, it might take Orion a bit to get there. And, well... Orion might only have an average amount of intelligence, but he knows what following generally means. At least, if he were to follow someone over something like this, he knows perfectly well what it would mean.

Which means this isn't particularly good news.]

Keep me updated on where you're going. I'll get there as soon as I can.

[Right after that, he phones his mom to let him borrow a car and starts making his way towards Freshens as quickly as he can.

And, of course, he's taking his guns with him. He's hoping they won't be necessary,
but it's a just-in-case measure.

.....He's really hoping he won't need them.]

Text

[strawberrypunch]

[It takes some time, but eventually Orion receives a texted image of a bar and no other description. It looks a bit blurry, like it was hastily taken, but the bar sign is in clear sight and easily located on google maps if he's so inclined.]

private/phone

[dulynoted]

[ Well, after seeing that post, Tatsuma is going to get a ring ring right to his cell phone. Akira's not one to discuss family matters online with strangers, anyway, no matter what the circumstances.

Please answer, cousin. "I need to find it" doesn't sit well. ]

private/phone

[strawberrypunch]

[Tatsuma does pick up eventually, but when he does there's the strange mix of exertion mixed with utter flatness, neither of them suiting his usual tone at all.]

What.

[dulynoted]

[ Akira notes this, but doesn't comment on it right away. There's a pretty reasonable catalyst to...not be feeling himself. Tatsuma should be upset.

Akira, though...he's...frustrated? His grandparents were nice people. They didn't deserve this. It just seems...unfair. ]

We got the call from the hospital, but expected that you'd be here too. Where are you?

[strawberrypunch]

I was out.

[Something that, in hindsight, was a foolish choice. He should have gone with them. He knew something was wrong, why didn't he--

But now it's too late and they're gone and there's only one solution that comes to mind for dealing with the aftermath.]

Mom and dad are already going.

[But not him.]

[dulynoted]

[ Where are you? he asks. And Tatsuma answers where he was at the time.

He was out. He knows that Tatsuma would probably be hit the hardest by this loss given his situation, but based on that information he can only assume that his cousin feels like, somehow, it's his fault. Logically Tatsuma's presence might have changed the outcome, but not necessarily. It's just as likely that Tatsuma could have been a victim as well.

Sharing that won't change Tatsuma's current actions, Akira thinks. Clearly he doesn't want to share where he actually is, though Akira pictures him wandering the streets trying to find any car that matches that description. ]

Where are you now, Tatsuma?

[strawberrypunch]

[It is not an incorrect assumption.]

It doesn't matter.

[His voice is terse, nothing like the calm, laid back tone he normally speaks with, instead more like a string about to snap. Will this bring all kinds of trouble down on his head? Probably. He's not so far gone as to be unaware of that.

But this is what he needs to be doing right now, because even if everything's falling to pieces, if he can just find them...]

Just stay at the hospital. [That one comes out as practically a snap.]

[drydrown]

[Oh, that's... Nothing about this text is promising, absolutely nothing, and he knows getting involved isn't his place but worse-case scenario if things go oddly he can pass this one off to Murdock - ]

I do hope you've verified that someone on scene properly notified the authorities of this. If not, I can handle that much, but I'm going to need more information if you have it.

For the time being, as a law enforcement official I must implore you not to take matters into your own hands, should you locate the individuals responsible. As a person, given this message I'm entirely aware that that's probably the last thing you want to hear right now, but I have to make the request anyway.

Text

[strawberrypunch]

[He's using the voice to text option here, because as kindly as those words are, they aren't nearly enough to stop him, not now.]

My parents are handling it.

[...Though no response to the second half. He's angry and hurting, more than he's ever felt before, but he's still got enough wits about him not to brazenly tell someone with law enforcement that he intends to hunt down the culprit himself.]

[drydrown]

As long as someone is.

Not to state the obvious, but I assume the victims were close to you in some way?

[strawberrypunch]

My grandparents

[And more his actual guardians than his parents, that's for sure. He still can't - doesn't want to think of what will happen now that they're gone.

Luckily, there's other things to attend to first. Whatever happens after that, some part of him coldly doesn't have the capacity to care right now.]

[drydrown]

Duly noted.

When it comes to my position, I'm an attorney, not a member of the police - I'm with the district attorney's office. As such, it's not my place to tell you what to do. The most I can offer is the suggestion to not make things more difficult on yourself than they really need to be.

Callous advice, maybe, but the profession is a bit like that.

text

[odasaku]

[ sakutarou feels a tinge of concern over seeing this message. he may not know tatsuma, but something like this definitely can't be ignored. especially when it sounds so ominous. ]

You should send that info to the police. If you have the license plate number, even better. They can find them for you.

text

[strawberrypunch]

[He's pretty much never used voice to text until today but tonight's making up for it.]

That's the information we got from the police

I wasn't there

[Even though he knows he should have been. Those alarm bells ringing in his head every waking moment around them, he knew, he knew it meant something was wrong.

What had tied the two prior cases together? Death. That was the answer he hadn't been able to fully face, and this is the result.]

[odasaku]

[ if he wasn't there, then why would he be so concerned...? police? probably not. unless-- ]

Were they close to you?

[strawberrypunch]

Grandparents

[It's good that the phone catches the word even with the short gasp in the middle of the word. They're gone. Those warm smiles and the scent of pie baking and the chill of the studio mingling with the heat of the kiln and--

It's all gone.]

[odasaku]

I’m sorry.

[ this only makes the already sinking feeling in his stomach worse, his chest clenching painfully in sympathy over this person. but he can’t help but feel a tinge of fear over what he might be planning. ]

If you find these people... what will you do?

[redarm]

[ Noah had to go to a few different Christmas celebrations, he was currently between a couple when he decided to check his phone. He hadn't been expecting to see THIS however.

fuck.]

tatsuma...

whatre you gonna do if you find it?

[strawberrypunch]

They don't know who did it yet

I just need to find them

[That's not an answer.]

[redarm]

thats not an answer tatsuma.

[strawberrypunch]

I can't let them get away with this

[Still not an answer, but getting warmer.]

[redarm]

[Yeah he can...get the gist]

i know
but thats for the police to handle.