[restricted mingler] The investigators interview anybody who knows anything whatsoever about Titus

[in_summer_leaf]

A sign is posted in the common room on the notice board:

Information wanted:For anyone who does not know this, Titus Groan is missing, and it is feared that this is not the usual Mansion disappearance. If you believe you have any information that might help us find him, or simply have questions or concerns, please speak to a member of the Shadow

Comments

[surfaceshine]

Dean will take a shift, alternating being still with trying to help search the grounds. He's taken to carrying a hip flask again, not even caring about how many steps back it puts him, and his temper is a little short, but he's still Dean.

He still wants to find Titus and talk to anyone who can help them accomplish that or who needs or wants reassuring.

[in_summer_leaf]

"Say, can I have a snort of that?" says Hisoka, appearing at Dean's elbow.

[Are you up for an extremely short thread? XD]

[surfaceshine]

Dean's eyes flick up, though he doesn't raise his head from where it's bent over his hands passing the flask harmlessly back and forth. He quirks an eyebrow, but stops tossing it and holds it out instead.

"Careful," he cautions, deadpan but joking. "It bites back."

It's Dean's usual - whiskey, and rough whiskey at that - and it's half full.

[in_summer_leaf]

"Thanks, dude," says Hisoka, taking the flask. He upends it and takes a big gulp. His eyes suddenly become twice their usual size. "Aaughh! It bit me."

[surfaceshine]

Hisoka's characteristic joking gets a small tug at the corner of Dean's mouth that doesn't quite turn into anything; the hunter replies by holding out a hand to accept the flask back when his friend is done.

"Don't say I didn't warn you. What news?"

[in_summer_leaf]

Hisoka recognizes that small motion as a smile or at least an attempt at one. He hands the flask back (a little regretfully). "Not much. I've been asking people if there was anybody hanging around Titus who made them uncomfortable or didn't seem trustworthy. Utena indicates he has a half-brother here, Steerpike, and she seems to think that in another world this Steerpike may have done him some kind of harm. But the Steerpike here is a different one, 'not as evil.' Tsuzuki and I talked to one of our local physicians, and didn't get anything useful until I asked if he knows anybody at the Mansion who might fit the traditional serial killer personality profile, and he suggested that Rudy Cooper does, and he also volunteered that Madame Aramat was afraid of the man. I've met Rudy myself, and I can't say I liked him. I don't know if he knew Titus."

[And I'm assuming this is before Dean talks to Genkai or Hisoka to Misa.]

[surfaceshine]

Dean passes the flask back and forth between his hands while Hisoka is talking, eyes unfocusing through the floor as he tries to follow the web of connections between people he doesn't know. There's a small crease between his eyebrows that he's not even aware of at the mention of a 'not as evil' brother, but he doesn't say anything; not until he recognizes the last name Hisoka gives him.

"Wait, I've met Rudy, too. He seemed... okay." This disturbs Dean, that Hisoka and others may have felt something off, while Dean kind of liked the guy. The hunter straightens from where he'd been leaning on his elbows braced on his thighs, and glances up at his friend. "Has anyone looked for either the brother or Rudy?"

[Sounds good to me!]

[in_summer_leaf]

Hisoka pulls up a chair and sits beside Dean. "I'm hoping Steerpike will come in today. I suppose if Utena is right about him, he will; if he doesn't, we can go visit him. But as for Rudy, I think we’re going to have to search for him. Muraki thinks that's not even his name. I think that, too. And my impressions of him when we met -- he’s a good conversationalist, but he has this peculiar characteristic -- his eyes and his voice don’t match. The voice is affable and sometimes even expressive, but the eyes don't change -- they're deep and somehow blank. And the blankness is beneath the surface, not on top of it

[surfaceshine]

If Dean would think about it in the proper regard, he would probably realize that Hisoka has admitted to being an empath; even if Dean were stonecold sober, which he hasn't been for any appreciable amount of time the past few years, Hisoka could probably pick up on things the hunter can't. But he's not thinking about it like that, and he hears something he should've noticed himself, normally very good at following his instincts and reading the people he's talking to; there's no room for guilt, right now, but perhaps later he'll remember this conversation, remember his interaction with Rudy, and feel responsible because he didn't gut-stab the man right there on the lawn and avoid all of this, somehow.

"Different how? Empty how? Like, possessed empty? Or like real scum-of-the-earth empty?" Dean is intent, now, focused past his own issues and wholly on the case.

[in_summer_leaf]

Hisoka has just admitted to being an empath, but he's extremely tired and not quite sober himself, and so he hasn't noticed his own words. And he has already had the thought that if he hadn't been so doggedly determined these last few lifetimes not to psychically eavesdrop on people, he might have picked up some part of Rudy's thoughts and been alerted to the fact that there was a murderous psychotic in the house.

"Not possessed empty. Devoid of whatever it is that is supposed to be inside of us to give us joy and sorrow, pleasure and pain, love and hate. Well, he may have kept the hate. Anyway, people telegraph all that through the eyes, and...in other ways. And he just wasn't doing it."

[surfaceshine]

Dean listens, and he is very, very quiet for a few long moments; his own eyes have gone distant, searching his memory of the conversation he had with Rudy, trying to find the indicators Hisoka is talking about. It should've been obvious - Dean has been staring into the eyes of evil all his life, he knows it better than anyone, he was embroiled in it for years.

He didn't notice.

"I didn't notice," he admits, and then some of the old Dean kicks in. No time for regrets. Titus might still be alive, waiting for them to find him. "Maybe because he's just an ass. Who else do we have?"

[in_summer_leaf]

"Yeah. I kind of liked him. And I would have continued to, if I hadn't walked in on him when he was sitting by Lady Stark. We don't have anybody else except Rudy and Steerpike -- unless any of the other Shadow Angels have come up with somebody." Hisoka glances at the flask. "The Plothole must like you," he observes.

[Are you up for an FTB, in another post or two?]

[surfaceshine]

"I'll check around," Dean volunteers immediately, because he needs to be doing something, and collecting a list of suspects to follow up on is routine and easy and familiar. He'll get to something harder in good time. Then he, too, glances down at the flask and smirks without humor.

"The flask is mine, thank you very much," he replies, a flicker of pride in claiming it; it was his father's before him, one of the few things left to him now. Ironic, because the habit the flask represents is probably technically John's legacy as well, but Dean has never thought to blame that particular problem on genetics so much as having a really shitty draw the last couple of years. "As for what's in it, well. Sam'd disagree with you on whether me having it is a sign that it likes me or not, I'd bet."

Sam would probably rather it didn't give him a damn thing, and some days, Dean agrees. Today is not one of those days, and tomorrow is not looking good either.

[in_summer_leaf]

Hisoka laughs softly. "That's as raw as Lake Country Moonshine." He is thinking of the powerful distillation his Mer relatives in Western Vohemar were fond of producing and quaffing during their lunar calendar holidays. They also poured it over the edge of the continent into the Sea of Cloud, as a libation to the dead. Hisoka was of the opinion that it was a beverage well suited to send the drinker over that edge before his or her time, but there was no denying it numbed a pained soul. "I can hardly blame Sam, if he disagrees with me."

"Anyway, catch up with you later," he finishes.

[surfaceshine]

Dean doesn't deny it; in fact he raises the flask in question slightly as if in toast, and the corner of his mouth tugs, but he doesn't argue with any of it.

"Yeah, see you 'round," Dean agrees, and watches him go.

[in_summer_leaf]

Hisoka turns quickly on his way out, gives Dean a half-smile, and exits the common room.

[And that was by way of acknowledging the toast. (And the nip.) It was a smile full of sweetness, the real stuff. And FTB!]