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Post by Sharei on Nov 22, 2020 11:57:00 GMT -6
"Sara! Yes, gods man, give her some," he urged, ever aware of someone's injuries over his own.
Koji leaned forward in bed, ignoring the way his arm and shoulder ached as he reached out toward them. She looked shaken and terribly scared, and the Genasi's first instinct was to try to comfort her. He made a gesture with both hands, indicating that Cassius should hand the small shifter to him. He wasn't the greatest person when it came to empathy or even sympathy, but Sara was different - Sara and Aaron had always been different.
When Cassius put Sara down Koji bundled the small dog into his arms with incredible tenderness. He scratched her beneath the chin with the back of two fingers, and it was so unlike the normally stoic, even aggressive Genasi that it was like looking at a completely different person.
"Shhh," he soothed, in a tone of voice he usually reserved for frightened animals. "It's alright. You're okay."
The dog buried her head, ever so gently, into the Genasi's chest. Her oddly crocodilian tail tucked itself between her legs. Then Sara was crying; an animal's wail, hair-raising, guttural and without tears - conveying the same level of distress as any human cry would.
The Genasi's heart wrenched to hear it. What could have...? He glanced at Lin and at once understood. She'd been told the same thing, hadn't she?
Human remains...
"It's okay," he told her, moving his hand to soothe down her head and back. "It's okay, Sara. Aaron's fine - he's fine. Shhh, everyone is alright."
He'd repeat it as many times as it took to calm her.
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Post by MP on Nov 22, 2020 15:11:12 GMT -6
[Cassius, Koji, and Sara]
Lin's ears pinned back at the wail. He shook out his mane. Raised a hand and then thought better of it. Shuffled awkwardly out of Cassius' way, giving better access to the bedside. Another text ping. This one he glanced at but didn't respond to. There was no need.
While the others saw to the potions, Lin moved the chairs back to their proper places and edged toward the door. Head respectfully lowered. Tail lifted by one massive claw so it didn't drag on the floor. Discreet. But his horns still clacked on the head jamb as he ducked to leave. The reptile jumped nearsightedly and, hunching lower, squeezed himself out the door. Once outside, he loitered beside the door, glancing around and dusting off his blackboard.
Footsteps coming. The great head turned, nostrils flaring. Lin shuffled a little way toward it and sat down to wait, pressing himself as near to the wall as he could.
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Post by jarahamee on Nov 22, 2020 17:44:09 GMT -6
Cassius looked at the two awkwardly, as if unsure what he should do, before approaching and handing Koji the two vials in the flat of his hand, as if to say that he could distribute them as he pleased. He had no desire to reach between the two of them to administer it.
He also immediately felt like an intruder in an emotional situation and took a few steps back, until he was against the wall and away from them, before looking down at his flip phone. As if it might deliver some kind of answer. The two of them seemed like they might need a moment.
“If you decide to split them, she will only need a splash of it.”
He explained again. He would not blame them if they weren’t really listening. Whatever they had been told was very bad news, he was sure. Was Aaron dead then? Missing? Why did they call into doubt the real thing? He had a lot of questions, and admittedly, he suspected the worst given their behavior. The thought made his stomach tighten uncomfortably, but he pushed it into the back of his mind for focus.
Don’t fret now, you don’t even know what’s going on. Focus. Pay attention.
Maybe you have gotten soft in your old age.
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Post by beastly on Nov 22, 2020 17:51:03 GMT -6
Simon instantly felt guilty for bursting in looking halfway a mess. He could tell that the doctor wasn't doing too hot either, and as he let himself be guided to a chair he gave the other an apologetic look. He was still jittery, still anxious, but he needed to hold it together a little better for Fao's sake. It was a bit easier to do for another person, he could focus himself a little better. It seemed the doc knew something already.
"Sorry for just, uh. Crashing in. Um," Simon took a breath and rubbed his eyes under his glasses, giving a half hearted chuckle,"I... yeah. Something is up with our bud. I don't know the full story. I'm just nosey, ha... I talked to someone, uh. They were asking a lot about Aaron, 'bout us," he gestured at both Fao and himself and then at an invisible person, " us hanging out with him. Wanted all the details. I told her. She said that Aaron might not... be Aaron. I came down to talk to you about it, and...smelled him. A dead one."
Simon brought a hand to his brow, and grimaced He glanced back up at Fao. Hey. No doom and gloom. He doesn't need to deal with you melting on his floor. Dont trail off there. He fixed his face into a less pained expression.
"That being said. Aaron is Aaron. He's gotta be. Just more tired, right? He's got a lot on his plate." He tried to end his babbling on a hopeful note. He didn't want to give him false hope, but he did think Aaron was Aaron... he just wasn't as 100% certain as he wanted to be.
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Post by qhostqrowls on Nov 23, 2020 1:55:45 GMT -6
The doctor nodded as Simon spoke. So they were both more or less on the same page. One slender eyebrow rose as Simon mentioned the woman asking about their group, and he leant forwards to speak.
"Who was asking the questions?" He asked. "I heard about this from one of Aarons fireteam members. He um, yeah...he mentioned a double too. Said maybe it was a Changeling or Doppelganger. He was also investigating Zramek involvement...they think Aaron hasn't been himself for the past six weeks."
Faolans hands twisted anxiously in his lap as he spoke. All of this was likely supposed to be confidential, but he trusted Simon, and he wasn't fully convinced just yet.
"Uhm. About that." His expression fell at the werewolfs hopeful expression. "I've just been sent an autosy report for Aaron. They couldn't visually identify the remains but...but almost everything else lines up." His voice wavered. He didn't want it to be true. Mistakes were made all the time.
"It just can't be him. I mean, he's been so normal, right? There must be some kind of mistake. But you said...you smelt a corpse?" Faolan grimaced, a sympathetic expression.
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Post by beastly on Nov 23, 2020 2:57:37 GMT -6
Simon clasped his hands together in his lap. Zramek... Shit, Aaron. Trouble sure liked his buddy.
"Yeah. Um. I'm bad with names, uh. Ruiz? Yeah."
He watched Fao's expression, and his own similarly fell. As he listened, his nervous energy returned. Shit, man. It sounded like it really was a case of two Aarons. Foot tapping, Simon stood.
"That... ain't good," he ran a hand over his head, and nodded, "I promise I wasn't making a dark joke when I texted you about smelling something odd. When I was on my way down I smelled Aaron going to law, but then also over to medical. When I was on my way to your office... yeah. It wasn't a walking smell, if that makes sense. Didn't behave right," he always feels weird describing smells and stuff to others, " Had to be carried. It was a decomposition smell. Not good. Earthy. And um. Aaron-y."
He bit his lip harder, stomach turning at the memory of the scent.
"Our guy smells right too, though. So that ain't- it doesn't mean... It's a good fake they got down here "
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Post by tsukikoko on Nov 23, 2020 8:54:30 GMT -6
Eventually, Sara's wailing cry quieted; first to a whimper, then a murmur and finally only the heavy, catching breaths from her open muzzle. She turned her head a little, enough that she could lick the Genasi's hand and forearm with the very tip of her tongue. A repetitive motion as her eyes stared straight ahead, not really focusing. She forgot who she was with, the nature of his weaknesses, in those ensuing seconds.
Her mind was a whirl. Even with her instincts focusing upon the ache spreading through her face and shoulders, on receiving comfort from one member of her close knit pack after the loss of another, still the shifter's ever-active mind was spiralling from one possibility to another. If the- the remains they'd found were her own Aaron, that meant she'd been living with an imposter for weeks, regardless of whether he knew it or not. Clone, changeling, a man identical and flung through from another dimension... any and all of these options were awful. Would never make up for the fact none of them were her Aaron. Then there was the other potential - that her own Aaron was alive and well, but the other body, the other Aaron was dead. While she might get her fiancé back, if this other man had been pulled through from another world or time, that meant another version of herself or others, people who loved that Aaron, had now lost him. Might never know what had happened. Would never find closure.
Which was just as terrible.
So Sara stared, continually licking, her thoughts tangling and tripping over themselves.
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Post by qhostqrowls on Nov 24, 2020 5:22:31 GMT -6
Faolan nodded slowly as Simon explained the scent. It was hard to fully comprehend, but he understood the gist of it, and his expression fell as he did.
"Shit." He sat back against his desk and let out a heaving breath. "This is so messed up. I don't...you seriously think the Aaron we've been talking to the past six weeks was a fake? Did you smell that..." he waved a hand, nose wrinkling. "Dead smell when you interacted with him?"
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Post by beastly on Nov 24, 2020 7:46:47 GMT -6
"No," Simon said with a little more emotion than he meant to, "... No. I think we got the real deal. It has to be him," the werewolf shook his head, "Our Aaron smells fine. A little more stressed than normal, I think that's expected, but fine. The dead smell... that's the one y'all were lookin at, I'm assuming. If Aaron had been walkin around smelling like death I would noticed before now."
He paced a little, brow furrowed. " Something is fishy. I feel like our Aaron, the live one, is the real one. Either someone messed up in their whole clone swap deal, or someone wants us to think ours is the fake and have us running around trying to figure this out. That's what my gut says," he frowns," there's other possibilities. I'm probably a little biased. There's other things it could be, but... dont wanna spiral into 'em. I think our man is the real one. He's too...Aaron. "
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Post by MP on Nov 26, 2020 16:13:37 GMT -6
[Faolan and Simon]
Simon had his theory...but how to prove it? The memory of the corpse scent stood out foremost. It was faint, fading by the hour, but still traceable if they backtracked. On the other hand, the other scent - the living scent - led upstairs to Law Enforcement. Perhaps some explanation could be found with the living Aaron. Finally, the coroner's report indicated that the body had been found somewhere at the base of Mount Tonitrui. If the pair was feeling bold enough to seek out the site, they might find more information - if they could only get more details on its exact location.
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Post by Sharei on Nov 27, 2020 22:19:38 GMT -6
Koji winced as that tongue slid across his marred skin. The trail of saliva left a low-grade burn in his flesh and he could only take one or two more of those before he was gently extricating his arm. He didn't need to be adding any more injuries to the ones he already had.
Koji used the opportunity to administer the potion. He didn't take any himself but focused on dripping a little bit onto the top of Sara's head. He really hoped that he wouldn't have to try and get her to drink it. She hardly seemed responsive to what he was saying, so convincing her seemed a far stretch.
"Sara - Sara, hey. I know it's been a big shock, but everything's fine." And we really need you to be functional right now, he thought with a surprising flash of irritation. He appreciated emotions as much as the next person, but Aaron was in a predicament and there was nothing they could do by wasting time being shell-shocked.
There's nothing you can do at all, he thought, and tried not to focus on that.
Instead, he turned his head to look at Cassius.
"I want to help with this investigation," he said, perfectly aware that he was an invalid asking to aid a search he couldn't participate in. He felt his lack of mobility keenly. But whatever he lacked in his body he made up for with his mind. "I can't get out of here yet to investigate the crime scene or speak to Aaron myself, but there must be something that I can help with from here."
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Post by jarahamee on Nov 29, 2020 0:35:48 GMT -6
Cassius looked at everyone assembled there, and realized he simply did not have enough information about what was happening. Sara trusted Dust, and though Dust was not quick to trust, he never would have injured Telmore. If nothing else, the two were near inseparable, so that would have made no sense to him. Sara would never have befriended someone who wished Telmore harm.
He spent a moment reflecting and then realized that he needed to know more about what was going on. Something that required dopplegangers of some kind or another. Something had happened. They had found something. They needed more to find out what was going on.
“I don’t see why you could not participate, Dust. I think I will need to know what everyone has been told to understand this situation.”
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Post by qhostqrowls on Nov 29, 2020 6:19:40 GMT -6
"Okay." Faolan said slowly. "Okay."
He mulled over the possibilities. The records had been useless. Since neither of them were agents it would be near impossible to talk to the Aaron being questioned. The doctor didn't consider himself much of a detective, but between himself and Simon they'd surely figure something out.
"What do you think we should do?" Faolan ventured. "I mean, we're supposed to do nothing, I'm sure. But...like you said. This feels wrong somehow." His gaze darted nervously to the door, and he spoke in a conspiratorial hush. "I feel like...we should check it out, at least. Maybe you could follow the uh, dead scent."
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Post by tsukikoko on Nov 30, 2020 15:12:51 GMT -6
As the drops of potion fell onto Sara's head, nothing changed; nothing about her body healed, the strange sense of disconnect and confusion brought on by her minor head injury didn't clear, nor did she seem particularly responsive. The drips did, however, alert her in a lethargic kind of way, to the fact she'd been licking the Genasi's skin.
That she'd hurt him.
With a soft whine and a clear look of apology, she shied her head away. The shifter seemed relatively sedate now, curling in on herself quietly. Yet, inside, she was a roiling mess of anxiety and indecision: where one part of her wanted to go to the agent, wherever he was being held, see her for himself and somehow know whether it was her Aaron or not; while another part of her, a scared, shivering part, shied almost violently away from facing him, because what if it wasn't her Aaron anymore? She wasn't sure she could cope with that potential outcome. Then there was the selfish part, that wanted a place of comfort of security but could not find it in her agent, so reached instead for that scent of pine and earth. But she couldn't- couldn't go there, either. Though she desperately considered it.
Instead, the small dog stayed curled up, trying to quell her swirling, painful thoughts. Though her ears twitched at the sounds around her, she wasn't really listening.
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Post by MP on Dec 3, 2020 2:01:12 GMT -6
[Cassius, Koji, and Sara]
Beneath Sara's wails, there were voices outside. Quiet murmurs, multiple voices, and the soft rasp of scales. While Koji explained the situation to Cassius, a halo of frizz craned around the doorway, peering in at the group. Agent Ruiz looked less than pleased, but the barrage of hissing whispers seemed directed at someone else. There was a soft smack, a soft 'ow,' and the faint tap of fingernails on glass.
By the time Cassius was fully up to speed, there were three agents waiting outside. Lin sat at a respectful distance, combing absently at his mane. Todd, all but obscured behind one of the reptile's arms, was preoccupied with his phone. It was Agent Ruiz who pushed into the room and stood waiting, hands on her hips, for the three to finish.
"Actually," she said in the quiet, "They were wanting Dr. Summers down in Interrogations and take a look at him. See if he's legit and all. But I dunno..."
Her mouth slanted as she regarded the dog.
"I don't think she can handle an interview right now. Sorry, Summers."
The dried blood on Sara's nose hadn't escaped Ruiz's eye. Her fingers curled speculatively, but while the dog lay curled in Koji's arms, she was effectively out of reach. Ruiz turned to Koji and Cassius instead.
"If you can calm her down, you know, as the emotional support, I might be able to get you an in. Maybe you'll catch something we couldn't. I dunno. As for that -" she waved a hand at the hospital bed. "You deal with the warp guys, yeah? Telmore was saying about a pen? We can get one of those people on it. Get you down there - if your physician okays it."
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