036-[Action?] The Grinch who stabbed Christmas.... and little girls....

[friendly_ghosts]

[Remember Mindy's plan to save Christmas? Well, it turns out that Mindy failed to save anything, but Black Mage succeeded. Yay?

At any rate, those who actually go to the tree on Christmas eve as she requested, will be greeted with a gruesome sight. Mindy is dead, and her corpse is artfully hung on one of the lower branches of the tree as if it were

Comments

[strike_you_out]

[That tiny corpse looks familiar...

Oh shit. Slugger looks around for any sign of Pokey -- he cannot let his friend see this.]

[ooc: Permission for Slugger to take down the body - Y? N?]

[godisachild]

[Haha, too late for that buddy. In fact, seeing you staring at something kind of caught his curiosity. He'll just be walking over now.]

Hey, what're you-

[Oh. Well. Now he sees it. And just goes quiet, instantaneously at the sight. A few long, silent seconds pass before he puts a hand on Slugger's shoulder and gently shakes the other boy. It's a weird motion for him to be giving but...for some reason it makes him feel better. And he actually sounds calm. Reasonable.]

...C'mon. We need to get her down. We can't leave her like this.

[strike_you_out]

[Slugger was just about to disentangle Mindy from the branches when he hears Pokey's voice and nearly jumps out of his skin. Initially, he tries to block Pokey's view of the corpse but it's too late and he steps back a bit, looking at the ground.]

...

I can do it, if you want...

[godisachild]

[Pokey thinks for a moment, just...looking. He's honestly hard to read at the moment.]

...We'll both do it. Get her down and I'll show you where we'll take her.

[thunder_ace]

[No

No

Fate could care less about this 'fake' business. She can't be sure if it's even true or not... but even if it was, there's no reason to kill them. They're still people, after all.

So when she sees the broken body of a child - a child from her house, one she was supposed to protect - she can't help but scream.]

[nosigntospeakof]

[He's here, just as Mindy requested. He's had a rough day, what with the love of his life trying to stab him and all, so the thought of just being able to quietly celebrate the holiday, even if it's just him and Mindy, is a nice one.

Until he actually gets to there and hears Fate's scream is painfully reminded of home.]

Mindy, no.

[thunder_ace]

Why... I can't... [Can't talk. Can't understand. She's been in the military for nearly twenty years now, and has seen some pretty horrible things. But a murdered child? It still hurts. Every time.]

How can someone do something like this...

[nosigntospeakof]

[He's seen so much senseless violence in his adult life. Death and spilled blood just based on color. It pained him every time, especially when ones so young were involved. This is no exception.

He swallows hard and approaches Fate, a mixture of feelings welling in his chest, and wraps his arm around her shoulders.]

Shoosh.

[duck_duck_laser]

[They were all supposed to come together on Christmas Eve, weren't they? That's what the little girl on the phone said, and that's what many had agreed to, right? She wanted to see that. Maybe even be a part of it.

She doesn't want any part in this.

That was probably the little girl who had been on the phone...]

Who did this...?

[And then louder, demandingly, as a challenge]

Who did this?!

[its_decided]

NO!

[Nozomi recognized the girl on hung up - it was the one who approached her earlier.]

No, no, no...! [she runs up to Mindy, horrified.] Who... who could have...?

[she feels guilty. Maybe if she had her powers, she could have saved her. Right now, she just feels... numb.]

The icon is all that is necessary here

[frilly_filly]