yogen | Gentle Persuasion (closed)

Pffft... Ahaha!

[ Probably not what Childe expected, but Shiraishi feels hardly able to hold it in as he laughs with abandon, sounding one hundred percent like he's having the time of his life. And that's because he is. Hold on... give him a minute to draw in breath. There. He can probably form sentences again now. ]

Sorry, sorry. That's because those few days ago, that was exactly my intent. To make you think I did something... or maybe that I myself was the murderer. After all, that was the fastest way to screen you for the same thing, if I was going to employ your help.

[ He knows he hasn't exactly answered Childe's question yet, but well... they're getting there. This was kind of a necessary explanation towards that first, you have to admit. Also Shiraishi kind of only works at his own pace, I'm sorry. Gotta hate catboys. ]

[It absolutely was not the response he had expected to receive, in fact, and for the briefest of moments genuine surprise lights up his features before he’s putting his own careful mask of impassivity back on. What he cannot hide is the way his curiosity peaks in pitch, his left brow quirking upwards.]

To employ my help. [He repeats the phrase as if restating it with his own voice will somehow make it snap into sense, and when it doesn’t he resolutely decides that it couldn’t hurt to bite the bait. The barest hints of an amused smirk play against the edges of his lips.] I’ve been told I’m not the best at following orders, so you’ll need to be more specific on what you’re interested in here, buddy.

[The quip comes easy, though it’s not an outright dismissal. He is at the very least interested in hearing Shiraishi out.]

Is it really that surprising...?

[ Plot twist: if Childe's surprised, Shiraishi's surprised by Childe's surprise. He thinks he's been pretty clear to follow so far, but that's just because he has no common sense or ability to match himself to others, too bad his assistant isn't here to explain his atrocious lack of skill at fitting into society though. Childe will just have to piece it together on his own, but regardless: ]

It's just like I told you. I happen to be skilled at analysis, but I hate the boring stuff such as gruntwork or witness interrogation.

[ He casts a glance at the entrance to the pool building, which is where he'd initially spotted Childe that day, walking around all over the place to look for physical evidence of the culprit's presence. And then there's the fact that he's talking to him right now, like this... Surely he can grasp the meaning. ]

But neither of those seems to be a problem for you.

[Childe gives a slow blink, processing the statement before he’s huffing out a slightly disbelieving chuckle. The hands come out of his pockets now, and he’s folding them across his chest again, tilting his head back to watch the sky for a moment. This is a little bit surreal, if he’s being honest.]

So just... Okay. Hold on. To make doubly sure we’re both on the same page here... [His words are slow, like he’s trying to choose them to be as precise as possible.] You loitered around a murder scene, purposefully acting as suspicious as you possibly could to draw attention to yourself. As a test. Which I apparently passed?

And because I passed this test, you want me on the payroll. To help you solve murders. Or... Put your profiling together. Which... I’m assuming the end goal of is to solve the murders?

You want me to help you solve murders.

Only the interesting ones.

[ The rest of them are on their own. ]

If there are any you don't feel curious about, I won't keep you from sitting out, and I won't help with any that don't pique my curiosity either.

[He is approximately zero percent sure on how he should play it from here. What he is certain of is that any amount of time spent knee-deep waffling over how to respond the way he currently is will be a sure fire way for him to look suspicious.

Although he’s fairly certain he’s going to end up in hot water regardless. If not now, then later on down the road, considering... Well. His own hands aren’t exactly clean when it comes to the things going on here at the school.

He - someone who has killed a lot in service of the Tsaritsa, and who will most likely end up doing so again - is really being asked to help solve future murders. This... Well. It could be useful to get on Shiraishi’s good side, that’s for sure. But it’s certainly the biggest plot twist he’s been served here so far.]

One last thing, if you wouldn’t mind the indulgence. [Overall, he’s fairly confident he’s hiding his internal dilemmas rather decently, especially considering any hesitation could easily be written off as lingering confusion. Even so, his voice comes out just as steady as it had been moments prior. Think on your feet, Ajax. You’ve always been good at that.] What exactly was it that made me seem so trustworthy? I didn’t think that I did much aside from guard an entrance.

[ It's okay, Childe. This annoying ass solves murder for sport so there's clearly a very simple solution to that: just stab people in the hallways, make it artless and boring, and he won't care enough to bother. But either way, whether any of the other's inner conflict makes it through to Shiraishi or not, he doesn't really show it, blinking instead as a droplet of water from what seems to be the beginnings of rainfall falls right into his eyelashes. He's never... really been concerned with determining the morality of his culprits to be honest; he sees them more like puzzles, little games to be solved and then moved on from. ]

Oh, that. It's actually fairly simple. I tried to bait you to follow me with what you yourself admitted was a convincing act, but you opted to stay behind. Because your friend had asked you to watch the place, I presume.

[ You know, mentioned on the public network, and as evidenced earlier, it's something Shiraishi does quite keep up with. Like an entertaining morning read of sorts. As for the rest of it, the part that was conjecture or a guess relating to Childe's character... well, we can consider that a free sample of his "profiling" skills. ]

Trustworthy is a pretty selective word, so I'll hold off on that, but at the very least you're clearly capable of seeing your jobs done through the end.

He didn’t ask. [It’s a negligible thing to make such a small correction to, but for some reason Childe feels like he needs to.] Kid had just lost the person who meant more to him than anyone else in the whole world. I just wanted to make sure he could grieve in peace.

[The rest of it, though... Childe himself had to admit sometimes that he was stubborn as all hell, and that when he had a goal set in mind there was little anyone could do to deter him from his path. His own ambition to conquer the world was a prime example, as even given the circumstances of being fully removed from his home, that hadn’t waned. He was still going to do it, no matter what it took to get back there.

Honestly, this was the third time that his personal fascination with violence had somehow landed him a job offer. It was starting to become a pattern, and he wasn’t sure how to feel about that.]

It’s good to see you’re smart enough not to trust so easily. [He’s sighing then, mulling things over for just a brief moment longer before he’s rolling his shoulders up and into a shrug.] Fine. I’ll play along and do some legwork for you in my downtime here and there. But I’m not signing anything. [He’d had enough of contracts to last a lifetime.]

[ It might be negligible... or it might not be. It's sort of the kind of thing that ripples cleanly through the character of both people involved, lending them just that slight trace of a different nuance that can change quite a bit of how they're classed in his mind. So Shiraishi makes note of that. ]

You make it sound as if someone conned you before.

[ He's a little curious about that, but maybe it's a question for a different time, if they ever sit down for a more leisurely chat. For now, it's starting to rain for real around them, and while he normally couldn't care less about what sort of environment he puts himself in... this place seems like it would make it a real pain if you got sick. You know, in that survival of the fittest sense where they should both take care not to expose themselves to any unnecessary weakness.

So after a second, he pulls a hand from his pockets at last, holding something thin and long that stays hidden behind his fingers. It has the vibes of nothing dangerous though, and he makes certain to keep at least that much clear, since he doesn't wanna ruin his work. The thing is, he deposits it into Childe's pocket instead, or whatever opening in his clothing he can find if there aren't any of those on his current outfit. When checked, it appears to be a single random cigarette of whatever make. ]

There. Found a whooole bunch of these on the roof above the classrooms when I woke up, stashed away in a little corner. Whether they're relevant to the mystery of this place or not, I suppose it can't hurt to ask around a little.

[ Maybe Childe's first task, if he finds it intriguing too. He can have a little plot clue sharing, as a treat. ]

[There’s a very obvious flash of some old seated annoyance that flares up at the mention of past double crossing.] You could say that. [He also makes the decision to not delve into it at this time, although his reasoning is less about the weather and more about the fact that he just doesn’t like to dwell on his single greatest loss. Not when he’s yet to make up for it with a victory to overshadow it, at least.

The rain isn’t exactly something he minds much anyway, given his own affinity for water. The most the falling droplets receive from him is a passing thought about how much he’d love to be back home right about now, so that he could go fishing once it lets up.

There’s a cautious look once Shiraishi reaches directly into his pocket to deposit the prize, and for a moment he’s under the impression that it’s something he’s not allowed to look at in public. That is... Until Shiraishi just sort of starts talking about it immediately, which earns a puzzled look before Childe is pulling it out of his pocket so that he can just... Look at it. Which he muses would have been a lot easier if it had just been. Handed to him.

He’s not particularly familiar with cigarettes themselves, but tobacco has to exist somewhere on Teyvat. Probably in Snezhnaya. Because Fantasy Russians™. Given that, a cursory sniff of the thing is enough for him to piece together what it’s for.]

I’ll see what I can dig up. Can’t imagine it would be too difficult to find someone who over indulges in a smoking habit. The scent tends to linger, after all.

[ It's okay, if Snezhnaya doesn't have cigarettes exactly, you can't tell me the fake French people don't, I refuse to believe it. But anyway, don't worry too much about why it was handed to him in the way it was, Shiraishi just lives to be annoying, make no sense, and test people's patience without even trying to half the time.

He brushes damp hair backwards over his shoulder, before sticking his hands back in his pockets. ]

Someone... or a group of someones, but finding even one in these cases tends to lead easily to the rest.

[ For obvious reasons, but regardless, he turns to start walking towards the school again, when he seems to remember something and lazily offers it back over his shoulder in the process. ]

Oh, right. I almost forgot since we veered from the topic, but about what we mentioned earlier.

Normally, the sensible assumption about the track would just be that the culprit forgot it, maybe because they weren't thinking clearly in the moment. But in this case... coupling it with the specificity of the victim's state, [ you know, burnt to a crisp and thrown into the pool as a snack, ] it's a lot more likely it didn't serve their purpose.

[ Now, what purpose could that be? A mystery... Basically, this is only further evidence that the burning has to have been on purpose, that there's a reason for certain why they didn't want the identity of the body in the pool to be known. Or maybe they'd even wanted to sink it, for it to never be found at all, and the burning was a backup plan which... obviously, had been a good idea given how things went. ]

[SOMEONE has gotta have cigars at least. You can’t tell me Signora wouldn’t walk around holding those long smoker things like Cruella. He’s opening his uniform coat to tuck the cigarette away in the inner pocket, that way it’s a lot less likely to get crumbled up and destroyed during his day. A glance up at the sky tells him that yeah, he should probably head inside about now as well. He’s got a mostly perfect attendance record to uphold after all, and so he ends up trailing along behind Shiraishi back towards the main building.

This meeting of theirs had included a lot less physical fighting than he had anticipated, though that didn’t seem to be all that bad of a thing given the amount of intrigue that was now dangled in front of him. He’d never been a big fan of puzzles, but this one seemed like one he wouldn’t mind sinking his teeth into. Given the company he was now keeping, it seemed like it would - at the very least - be entertaining.

Staring contests aside, he felt like he knew enough about Shiraishi now to form an actual opinion. He was eccentric, though in a way that reminded him less of Dottore and somewhere more along the lines of Zhongli. There was that sort fundamental lack of understanding of basic social cues that was almost... Endearing. When it wasn’t focused on conning him out of a Gnosis.

Yes, he rather enjoyed the company, and it made him feel just a little homesick. Not enough to let his guard down just yet, of course. But that was a given.

He gives a little thoughtful nod, absentmindedly drawing ahead once more so that he can hold open the door again once they inevitably reach it.]

Yeah, you’ve got a point there. Definitely seems like covering something up, doesn’t it? Especially considering... Well. The lack of actual clothing. The robes they were found in weren’t burnt, which means they were definitely wearing something that would have probably identified them fairly easily. [He pauses, a light smirk crossing his face.] Hey, maybe they actually did use the track. And then the burning came afterwards, sort of as an afterthought? I can’t recall if the body had any grievous wounds other then... Well. The fire. And the legs.

Gentle Persuasion (closed)

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i'm in tears

this thread is ending me im deceased

SAME i've been laughing like a loser

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