NICO

[foreverphantom]

Comments

[foreverphantom]

He--what?

[resumed]

Paper said his remains were found in the tiger exhibit.

[foreverphantom]

Oh. I--I didn't think that meant... [ partially eaten. ]

Jeez...

[resumed]

[ they keep getting worse. what if he was still alive when-- he immediately aborts from that thought. ]

...we'll have to get a closer look tomorrow to determine everything. Just like every week.

[foreverphantom]

[ slowly reaches out a hand to offer nico a pat, a hug, anything--

but then stops and pulls his hand back to himself. ]

...right.

[resumed]

[ listen, he's half-buried in sand and in his hoodie but he does see the movement from the corner of his eye, eyebrows scrunching together when he then sees the hand divert from its initial path. what was that about...?

it does mean he's still for a few moments before he props himself up a little taller. shame turns its attention to danny, chirruping softly both as a greeting and as a question. ]

I get that laying in the sand hoping the ocean will swallow me isn't exactly effective, at least. [ shitty sense of humor, again. ] ...it just feels weird because I know who I'd normally talk to about something like this, but. Sort of hard now.

[ then again i'm guessing reigen and ace both would just let me do this my way. kind of annoying of them. he brings a hand up to scrub at his face though. ]

Sorry. Anyway...did you find anything out there this morning?

[foreverphantom]

[ well if shame is going to chirrup at him like that, then he has to give it some lil pats. absentmindedly, as he does that, he says, ]

There was a fight in the zoo cafe last night. Furniture was overturned, scratched up, there was some blood...Jolyne found a bullet in the wall too.

...Lillium was probably there fighting off his killer.

[resumed]

[ that's fine, shame appreciates this anyway. and nico just frowns at the news. ]

He's a trained combatant, so I'd be more surprised if he wasn't. [ he pauses to think. ] Just a bullet, no gun?

[foreverphantom]

If there was a gun, we didn't see it.

...then again, there was a lot of fire and smoke in there, so. It's not implausible.

[resumed]

[ ...guess that's first. ]

Fire set? Did you guys find a source?

[foreverphantom]

I'm not sure. Jolyne was looking into the fire more than I was, but it looked like the fire was just on the furniture, not actually burning it or anything.

[resumed]

[ he's thinking this over. ]

We'll probably have to go back there and do a second sweep then. [ annoying... ] And once I check Lillium's body for burns that'll help determine a few things, too.

[foreverphantom]

Already committed to looking over his body, huh?

[resumed]

Probably against my better judgment, yeah. [ ... ] Jolyne looked at Sigrun last week. I can't make her do this twice, and I don't know if anybody else should.

[ i owe him that much. ]

Bad idea?

[foreverphantom]

...if you think you should, then I'm not going to stop you.

Just...be prepared for it to be gruesome, I guess.

[resumed]

You remember I pieced together a heart last weekend, right? [ terrible joke again. ] I can't shy away from stuff just because it's gruesome either. But then again I can already hear him bitching at me for doing it myself.

[foreverphantom]

[ i know, that's why i said it... ]

...so what's gonna win out, you think? Him scolding you from the grave, or team solidarity?

[resumed]

[ there's a thin smile. ]

He owes me a favor that I can't cash in anymore, so I'd say team solidarity. [ this isn't at all what he had in mind though. he doesn't think it's relevant, but. it's danny, and sometimes nico just feels like talking. ] He's the one who hit me with the rating curse. He told me.

[foreverphantom]

Oh, well, then he can't tell you anything. He really does owe you for that one.

[resumed]

See? [ haha. ] He told me why on Monday and I wasn't that mad about it. And he said that he figured he owed me for using it on me. [ but he also said to cash in soon, and i didn't listen to that. ]

[foreverphantom]

He had a reason for it?

...do you know why he thought he'd be targeted?

[resumed]

Yeah, his reason was dumb but it was a harmless wonderball so whatever. [ like. embarrassing, but for whatever reason he doesn't seem bothered about it right now. instead he chews his lip at that, thinking it over. ] Probably because he thought he was the least likable of the three of us left. And considering we're one of the bigger teams left...

[foreverphantom]

Oh.

[ Danny doesn't really know what to say to that; he never really got to know lillium well enough to like or dislike him. but maybe that's just it--maybe fewer people got to know him than they did nico or jolyne. ]

[resumed]

[ ...a hand scritches at shame's ears while he thinks. ]

...you know I don't expect you to actually know what to say about this kind of stuff, don't you? [ because he's thinking about how danny doesn't always know what to say and he's thinking about that aborted hand movement from earlier and he figures he should maybe make that clear, too. for no pressure. ]

[foreverphantom]

[ a huff and a small smile as he turns his gaze out to the ocean ]

I know, Nico.