Blood in the snow

[Tyamius, Shadow Lord]

(Showed up to work late one day, mom decided it was grounds to take and hide my c and all consoles till she decided i deserved to have them back sorry guys =P BUT your shadow has returned, lets get this show on the road!)

Tim looked around, the past few hours seemed like a hazy replay in his head. He started trying to compile some points as he sipped whiskey from his flask, completely ignoring the fact he was the one driving. What had happened...

Jack, his new partner, was a better partner than he was ever used to.

The triad house was gone, the rhythm killer and his new friend dragging a boy out with em. The rhythm killer was a guy he knew that much he had caught a glimpse of him...his friend was a girl...the kid had been found in an abandon apartment, he was the one they were going to interview. Wait had they said arsenic poisoning? What the hell? He threw the car in drive peeling out as the car whipped around, "GPS...Cedars Sinai Medical Center, fastest route." Tim commanded, he needed all the kids intel he could get.

"Oi mate so where you goin after we nab this prick? Back home?" Tim said looking over to Dash. His irish accent was becoming thicker around his british friend, maybe it was time for a trip to his dads grave site after this whole (please do not swear) job was over.

The car wove in and out of traffic, breaking every speed limit in on the way, he peeled into the parking lot and jumped out, "Come on mate, gotta get everything we can before this kid keels over."

[Edzilla]

When he surfaced, it was evident the water was shallow, he stood up to waist height. That didn't necessarily mean it was warm, "guess ill be starting..." He climbed out, leaving a of water as his sodden jeans became stiffer. For moment he threatened to throw her in, an eye for an eye, but instead retired to the bench. He motioned to her and when she finally sat down he began. "You know who, you know how, you know when, you know what." He smirked endlessly, "I'm hear to tell you why."
"After I came to Michigan, maybe 2 years ago, a year later, something terrible happened.... Really really bad, I lost a lot of faith in the human race, most of it." His face seemed relatively sombre, "and when you in a little town in a Michigan, everyone you relied on is gone, you make new friends and you try to fill the gap." He rolled up a sleeve of his shirt, revealing his forearm. There were a few little pinprick scars, "Charlie was there for me, so was marijuana, cocaine once...then there was every musician in the (please do not swear) universe" He looked even more regretful than before, "it was amazing, I'd made a lot of money back in Kobe, I was faced with a bottomless pit of narcotics and a endless record of tracks with which I could fill the emptiness of that town... and my world." He shook his head, "didn't work, doesn't matter how much you pump into a ruined life, we scar for a reason, it's a reminder that what's done is done, you can't do anything, I could've had psychiatrists, loving parents, good friends or a comforting partner, it's all the same..." He remembered something horrible, something he'd never meant, Lake Michigan had stretched out endlessly that winter, he'd been tempted to walk across the ice, to walk until it gave him the mercy of death. "No... they don't fill your needs, they hollow you out, burning out new holes which scream to be filled, how (please do not swear) sad..." His eyes were empty, she could see herself perfectly in them. "My dealer, a guy called Jonny, who was the reason, just the fuel, took some pity, he tried to get me off them all, he thought it was sad to see a such a young soul be torn apart like that... We tried everything, it didn't work.... nothing ever could, no anti drugs, no examples of the damage it would cause, I was on my knees so quick..."
The sound of his voice told things were about to get better. "Then one day, Jonny told me how hopeless I was, how I was like none before.... "Might as well have some fun," as if it was about fun in the first place... something about ultra concentrate DMT, I took them out a plain curiosity and as I walked home, it happened." His eyes were alight with light, making the turquoise of his iris all the more vibrant. "It barely describable, it feels like I became aware of everything in the universe, every star, every planet, every person, every molecule... You hear the perfect song, on me that every single brain cell listens to and understands, every note revealing that bit more." He seemed devastated that she couldn't know what it felt like ,"something above what a human mind could create or perceive..." He smirked ,"then my body shut down, thankfully someone found me, I was taken to hospital and woke up a week later, not from a coma, I was functioning fine, my body just took a rest.... next day I went back to Jonny, demanded more and he had this outrageous smirk in his face.. Those pills, were aspirin..."
"The human mind is a powerful thing Ed, you should know.."
"Not that powerful, not alone."
"You'd be surprised." Then he left me and after a while I began to realise what it had meant, I'd been had the secrets of life revealed to me, how to make the world a better place... That's what I'd thought, then something else began to creep up, maybe that really was DMT, that whole experience just an illusion of the trip, just a lie from Jonny to get me off drugs... I suppressed the idea, that led up to now, it's the reason I'm killing people and part of why I always seem to be thinking." He smirked, watching her take it all in. "Now you, or do I have throw you in the dam river to speak," he said playfully.

[Yuno]

She grinned at his soaking wet face and held out his rice bowl to him. It was untouched. When he took it she shuffled her feet against the ground. She looked off at the river in the distance. "I'm going to speak in Japanese...it's my home language." her tone changed as she stopped English and returned to Japanese.

"Remember how I said that I did things because I could." she nodded, "Yeah that wasn't it...it wasn't for the thrill...it was the actions of a destroyed person with a little too much skill and power."

She paused looking out at the river. "When I was born, nobody cared...not really...and that didn't change ever...my parents...self absorbed little twats...they didn't notice me...and I was brilliant enough to be worth noticing. But they just kept on...busy lives...no time." She ran a hand through her hair in disgust.

"And yeah, I had some friends as a kid...but most of them ended up ditching me....I had some troubles with my mood...my uncle who watched me while my parents worked had a bit of an anger issue that he took out on me...and I in turn took that out on friends...dumped my emotional damage onto them." She breathed in.

"All I really wanted when I was young was connection. I couldn't find it from people...so I started hacking things...I guess if I couldn't have the connection...I chose to at least be able to see it...how it all connected in the end."

She turned looking at him briefly. "So I turned what...about 15. And suddenly I was popular...my knowledge of tech...music...ability to sing...and I guess I stopped looking dorky and filled out...I was cool. I had friends...and a boyfriend...and I got into drugs...I got into drugs really hard. It didn't slow down my abilities to hack, but I got to feel like I was connected...ya know?"

She leaned forward flicking a stray leaf away. "But it didn't work...I'd fight with my boyfriend...my friends were jealous...nobody got me still...I was just a popular version of disconnected." she frowned at this. "So round about 17...I gave up on looking for it...any boy that I was with...he didn't have to get me....he just was someone I was intimate with at times...I didn't have friends...I had people I did drugs with. I got really head strong with my hacks...I broke into (please do not swear) just to break it....I saw all the connections just to fill the void...and then I got caught...and even in prison...I didn't find connection...so I got out...hacked google and got back to drugs...I wish I could say that the prison system changed me...but it didn't..."

She paused to squeeze her skirt which had collected some of his water. "And then you started killing people...and I was interested...finally a connection that had everything I liked in it...drugs, intrigue, murder, and most of all music. I was chasing you down long before the government showed me what gave me your message."

She grinned, "I didn't expect to find a punk guy with some well to do ideas about re-arranging the world. You coulda murdered me on the spot, and except for my dog I wouldn'ta been missed or missed anyone. But then you started talking...all that (please do not swear) I missed before...all those people who didn't get me or I didn't get...wasn't there...Maybe I should feel worried that the only person I've ever connected with is also a mass murderer...but I don't...(please do not swear) them....as if their rules ever made anyone happy anyway."

She looked at him. "I don't even care that we'll both probably end up on trial for this...at least I'm alive for the first time ever...at least I get the picture...." She reached out touching his face, "Thanks for that.....all of it....I'm glad I didn't turn you in. Thanks for taking me with you...and sharing your dream."

[Edzilla]

"That's got to be tough, I've never really been 'popular' but I've always had people I could rely on... people for comfort... sometimes your born an outsider, sometimes your made one, but you've just got to embrace walking through hollow streets on cold nights..." He realised how whimsical he was being.
She mentioned boy friends, a memory was twigged ,"I knew a girl on the Northern Peninsula, really thought I loved her, then all of sudden she's just another object, another pill you can squeeze a feeling out of." She touched his face and the look he gave her was alien yet understandable, of desire and the circumstances which made it impossible. He turned back to the river, sitting silently momentarily, before getting up, "lets go, were in one of the worlds greatest cities, we may as well enjoy ourselves." It was about 11am when they came back into the paved path, a few elderly couples looking suspiciously at them, partly because of the water dripping from Eddies dark hair.


The Enzos engine died down as the car stopped, the three were greeted by a medical official and were lead into the hospital without a word. It was every day business as usual, many doctors rushing about over cool white an blue floors, stressed as ever. They turned a corner and headed into a room hearing a nurse say ,"you'll be out of here by the end of today..." She paused, looking at a chart ," Zack." She noticed the three tall men enter and promptly left. It was barely a second before a balding man wearing round spectacles and a white lab coat entered. "So you part of the team investigating this whole mess, well this is Zack, he got some poison in him, were now performing a few blood transfusions to make sure none of the arsenic lingers, in the meantime feel free to talk, he says he saw those involved." He pulled up a chair to the wall and sat,holding clip board, ready to write.

[Yuno]

In that look some sort of understanding passed between them. She stood up following him the wind rustling through her skirt and fanning it out around her legs. He watched her pause looking at the river and the trees. Her smile was subtle, almost lost.

She looked up at his wet hair and grinned to herself with some alien mixture of pride and arrogance. He saw the look and suddenly she began to walk quicker, as if worried he was going to take her back to the river and make good on the threat to dump her in it.

She tugged at his hand dragging him through the crowded walk ways a smile full of adventure on her face. She stopped at stalls along the way and he noticed she had a love of sweets that she was keen to induldge.

Eventually after several hours of trinket shopping she dragged him onto a tour guide's bus, "Show us everything!" she commanded pleasantly. With that they were off chugging through the city as landmarks were pointed out. After miles of walking around a rather beautiful palace and mountain range he found himself being pulled towards a restaurant. "Let's eat." She was smiling as steaming piles of rice and veggies all freshly cooked were served before them. Along with tea. She lifted her chop sticks and began to dig in.

"What else do you wanna see?" she said around a pile of rice.

[mantisstalker]

He inclined the tip of his bowler hat to the men as they entered and moved into a sitting position on the side of the bed for a better view. "G'day fellas, sorry if I sound a little rude but that's get this show on the road. I don't want to be here any longer than I have to." He said with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes and one hand inside his coat pocket turning a small object every now and again.

[Edzilla]

"Suns going down, but the city won't," in all the excitement they missed the time, 5:00. "I'm sure we can find something interesting downtown.."
After finishing the food, they took a cab downtown, the bright lights already flaring with vivid colours. Tall building stretched up among smaller ones, the light fading as the sun sank behind the skyscrapers, the tall pearl tv tower inparticular. He lead her inside, heading straight to the elevator and powering upwards until the doors parted to reveal a luminescent bar, sleek with chrome. The view outside was clear through the glass walls revealing the true mass of Shanghai, downtown just one fraction of the vibrant city. He walked over to the counter, ordering himself a small glass of amaretto, leaving her to order whatever cocktail she liked. He wandered over to a high table by the window, tasting the strength of his drink, perhaps regretting ordering it. Glancing around he noticed the demographic. Successful, casually dressed people often with partners and associates discussing business. There were a few younger people with something to prove, mostly in suits. He turned back to her ,"thought I'd give you a glimpse of the highlife before we step into the dark... Whether we enjoy it or not, it has to be seen." He could see tense excitement mixed with anticipation in her greyish eyes, "the place were going isn't the safest, nor is it the richest, but people there will teach you things you never thought possible. He smiled, she was in for a ride and it had no brakes, headed straight downhill into chaos. "One thing, stay with me... If we get separated get outta there, this isn't just clubs and karaoke... It's far worse and yet better." The turquoise glinted as he finished his drink waiting for her to do the same before heading out. On the street he negotiated with a taxi driver, who almost left when he mentioned the places name: Xi jian. For a fairly high rate they managed and Rei could only watch the lights fade as the area got closer and closer.

When they stepped out of the taxi, the first thing she noticed was the relative darkness compared to the lights of downtown. "I want you to see this and if you feel scared, don't worry because I'll be feeling the same." They began to weave through the streets, attracting a few stares from the locals, who clearly weren't used to foreigners. It became obvious, it was a place for the pursuit of desires, the experience of life and the need to feel a little bit more. Such a sharp contrast I the order to the main areas, this was Chinese culture gone wild, pushed beyond what was conceivable, only existing within a square mile. They reached an unmarked door with the faint sound of music up a staircase, Eddie appeared in thought before entering up the dark stairwell, pushing open the door at the top.
The music was loud but not overbearing, Eddie recognised Primal Scream, enjoyed by the young who inhabited the place. Drugs were passed around in the darkness as the people danced in trance like states, encapsulated by the sound
"Higher than the Sun, Higher than the Sun"
The sound of machinery erupted from the speakers, part of the symphony and the dance of the young became more rhythmic, some embracing in deep love at the sound, it was simple: they'd found where the artists were, where the students were, where the learned were and yet where the drugs, trance and alcohol were, far far away from foreigners.
Eddie turned to her muttering a single word before stepping in. "Enjoy."

OOC- interview him and get on the next plane to shanghai guys.

[Yuno]

Slowly, she walked into the music. She'd been in places sort of like this before, they weren't great for hacks, but Yukio, her then boyfriend had loved places like it. She stuck close to Eddie her body picking up the beat as she unconciously began to sway to it. Drug passed around, and she made the snap decision to take some. She felt the familiar rush of cocaine. Her blood pumping and each and every hair on her body standing up. Although her hand was tightly clenched in Eddie's, she felt the music pulling her. A drink was pushed into her hand and she took it with a shrug downing it. Saki burned her throat and she grinned nodding at the bartender that had clearly sent it her way. The beat began to pick up, a young man grabbed her arm trying to pull her into the dance.

She tried to jerk away from him, but she felt her vision blurring, her pulse which had been so high ebbing to a slow steady pace. She felt...sleepy. Her wrist was firing with pain. She tried to hold out against the mad dance but another boy stepped from the crowd to push Eddie away from her.

She felt herself jerked loose from him and she turned her dilated pupils taking everything in very slowly. She managed to slur out the words Eddie before she was sucked into the dance. She felt bodies moving against hers. She felt heat, and sweat, and lust all around her. She looked all around for Eddie feeling weak willed fear. "Eddie..." she said yelling. The boys continued to dance with her as she shouted again. She managed with effort to tear herself away moving through the crowd. She hoped forward was the right direction.

Rather luckily, she caught sight of Eddie and managed to push through the tangle of bodies until she reached him. She moved in front of him blocking his path. Her head luled the full effects of the downer drugs slipped in her drink beginning to take hold. "Eddie...I don't feel right...Eddie...where are we going." She moved forward her balance shaky as she grabbed his shoulder. "Eddie...I want..." she ran a hand through her hair looking closer to full on collapse. "You to take me..." she grabbed his hand smiling lustily

[Edzilla]

"Mistake..." he sighed, realising what he'd done. sometimes when you played it by feel, this sought of thing happened, you ended up with pseudos or opposite who wore misleading cloaks. This was what he felt most hatred for, the pursuit of hedonism. the need to fulfil a self fuelling desire purely for the feeling itself, coke high among these. To him, hallucinogens were there to open the mind, bring forward things that the conscious was scared of and above all to find truth. All this wasn't to be found here, most likely no where in shanghai. Eddie grabbed her gently by the arm and pulled her over to an area where drinks were sold, albeit in unofficial fashion. He looked her in the eye, probably one of the few in there who could hold a gaze right now. "Don't let them take you with them, down the chasm of society."
He turned to the man selling drinks. "Vodka no?" The bartender managed to reply through his own stupor. Bottles in one hand he politely requested a light from a pothead leaned over by the wall. Then he look over to Rei, "it's gonna get real hot in here, maybe in death they can see the error." He smiled throwing the glass bottle to the floor, smashing to pieces, then dropping the lighter with a look of insanity... One he normally kept suppressed. The liquid went up in a flames, searing the carpeted floor, burning into wooden frame. Around the time the downers took full effect and Rei seemed to loose mobility, Eddie lifted her with unlikely strength, dragging a chair over with him. He shut the door, people now seemingly discovering the fire. Considering what to do, unaware if the fate they would suffer. Closing the first door, Eddie lent the chair under the handle. Nothing short of breaking the door would help.
Taking the stairs slowly, the weight if Rei light but still enough to make him concentrate. He exited into the cool night air, crossing the road before turning to see his work. Smoke now poured out the tiny ventilation shaft, screams of men and women alike pouring from within. Although hazy, Rei could make out his voice, whispering gently.

"Finer worlds that you uncover
Plant the path you want to roam
Live where you're heart can be given
And your life starts to unfold

You think you can't you wish you could
I know you can, I wish you would
Slip inside this house as you pass by
Trip inside this house as you pass by"

He smiled, taking her head in his arms began to walk through the streets, not turning for sirens that screeched past, or for news reporters flocking to the scene. He walked for almost three hours, until he was back at the park where they'd had breakfast. The place was entirely empty, the only sound the trickling stream. He sat her down on its bank and reached in cupping her hands for water and the splashing it on her face. Partly to take the edge off the depressant and partly for his own amusement and revenge. He lay backwards in the grass, noticing the stars through the overhanging trees. "I'm sorry, that's not what was supposed to happen..." His voice was fairly apologetic, but quickly became matter of fact and truthful. "I don't want you to become one of them, hedonistic, uncontrollable bastards, the drugs own them and feed away at them like they did to me... Sex, drugs, art, poetry, music. As soon as you let them take control your finished...." He smiled sadly to her, trying to communicate something to te barely conscious girl.

[Yuno]

Rei's head moved slightly to clear the water from her face. Her head lulled as he spoke and she spasmed her arm smacking against her face as she tried pathetically to wipe away the water. She ended up coughing slightly which turned to full on heaving. She rolled onto her stomach letting out a low whimpering sound as she forced herself up in time to vomit.

For several moments her body ejected what might have otherwise been a lethal level of depressant. With it out she managed to roll herself away from the vomit onto clean grass. She lay that way for several long moments as he kept talking. She spat at the ground once or twice. He waited for her response for thirty serene minutes.

Finally, with some vigor she pushed herself off the ground and he found her pinning him to the grass. "You stupid (please do not swear) moron. You take me there as what? A test!" She smacked the ground beside his head her teeth gritted in disgust. "I'm not a toy to test. If I had meant to fall into Hedonism, I would have done that by now." she was leering at him, "How many more of these little tests do you have. Maybe next time I can walk across hot coals to prove I'm with your agenda." She breathed in with deep rage still on her face. She rolled off of him and for the second time that day he found himself tumbling into cold water. When he surfaced he could see she'd managed by angry willpower to tug herself up on a tree and begin to stumble forward. As she went he heard her shout back at him, "Next time you (please do not swear) test me sleeping on a couch will be the least of your worries." She face planted after delivering this threat and he watched her continue to struggle to leave him behind. It was pathetic and endearingly stupid at the same time.

[Edzilla]

He surfaced, hardly taking a breath and lifted himself back into the bank. He drew out the room key as threw it so it landed on the grass in front of her. Thinking of a thousand horrible things to say, he left her with silence, walking away in to the night.

It wasn't long till he'd checked into a new hotel of similar quality. A staff member led him to his room and he immediately slipped on the complimentary gown. For a while he flicked through television channels, eventually picking a Japanese one. The crime had already been reported, 23 dead. He looked on unemotively before getting out of bed to look into the electric skyline. The thought that anyone else could share his high, his enlightenment, was gone, vanished into the Shagnhai air like vapour. He got back into bed, turning the lights off and letting himself slide away to what tomorrow would bring.

[Yuno]

She picked the key card up with a begruding disgust. It took her over 3 hours to get back to her hotel including all the crawling, taxi switches, and her still drugged mind's inability to comprehend anything of the chinese language. With the help of a bell boy and many disgruntled looks from the manager she was hauled into her room and after several questions to the nature of her health she was alone in the room they'd shared earlier in the day.

She stumbled into the bathroom still feeling a cold anger with Eddie. She brushed her teeth several times until she couldn't taste anything but mint. She looked up at the mirror. She climbed into the shower and sat there for an hour enjoying the hot water. It calmed her rage slightly. Still, she was tired of being in constant contention with his ideas of how she had to be. If he was so enlightened, why was he butchering people...She shook her head in disgust and climbed out of the shower.

She wrapped herself in the hotel bathrobe and hopped into bed. Her head was weak but she switched the news on anyway ending up on the same channel as Eddie. She fell asleep like that the television still blaring.

[mantisstalker]

Zack looked out the window and whistled a little, as he debated if the doctor would be up for a drinking contest or if he should start a game of Russian roulette with his hand gun. He glanced over to the trio of men that after three hours of saying nothing still stood there. He let out a snort of annoyance. How long would they keep this up for? Because if this was some sort of scare tactic it wasn't working and was instead making him really pissed off at the fact that he had probably done more in the past day to solve this case than they had in months.

[Esiphas]

ooc- Sorry guys, I was away (Unexpected holiday with no Net.) I'm a little lost as to where we are, but I'll try my best.

Ic- "I'm Going home. I want to see my Sister again, and any of my other family who might be around. After that... Might try special Agent work. This has been fun." He looked up, his expression unreadable. "You could Join me. Your quite the Driver, and I could always use a Partner." He snapped the last place of his crossbow in place, then folded it up and stowed it away.

[Edzilla]

OOC- you went to the hospital where Zack's being treated and now your standing in his room and hes awaiting your questions. Rei and Eddie left for Shanghai and stuff happened... Now your talking about going home, the government can't authorise you to do that

He woke up feeling hungover despite not having consumed. For a moment he didn't know where Rei was, before the events of the previous night came back to him. He grimaced, stepping out of bed, a feeling of tightness in his joints. He stared through the glass window. It was sunny, he vision flashed back to the digital clock on the bedside table. 11:00, he slept in, that was unusual. He put on his clothes which had dried in the radiator and headed out the door. He checked out immediately and headed out the door. It was unusually hot for winter, feeling more like the transition from spring to summer. The sun was long in the sky and a warm breeze blew through the street. He started to walk, finding a park, although different to the previous one. Adjacent to it was a neat little restaurant, where a few local families, a group of teenagers and a few elderly's sat. It brought a smile to his face, as people often did. Community gave him some kind if satisfaction that the city sometimes lacked. He pulled up a chair at a table next to the children and the teens. He opted for plain rice again, although with line this time and ten sat eating it for 10-20 minutes, watching people go by. What he did next didn't matter so much, he could go wherever he wanted, Manchester, Kobe, Merlin. He could even get back to America, he'd need his clothes atleast, what he did about Rei, he really didn't know. Hopefully she wouldn't go back to New York, start telling them about him just I spite him, yet that didn't seem in her nature... Sometimes it was nice to eat in silence, but that ended when was of the male teens, seeming about 15 years of age, asked him something in Chinese. Rather than looking back blankly, he smiled and they laughed in unison. He left shortly after, heading for the hotel where his clothes were, heading through the lobby and up the lift, finishing at the room. He knocked, not sure what to expect other than a face with a lot of hatred. He sighed, part if him wanted to get away from here, but he didn't way to have to buy more clothes.