no seriously / original bones don't steal / or commit arson

[roc_on]

The news gets worse.

The police nailed down a pattern - the guy found with the missing bones was one thing, but there were other missing persons, alternating genders, late teens to early twenties, all taken from the same part of town. Cops, including cops of the relevant age range, stalk the area, and one of them gives chase to a man who proves to be a firebender. He burns out most of a liquor store, proving it, and the cop loses him trying to meet him on the other side and goes back to help evacuate the units above the store.

There's security footage of the fire and some of the chase, rescued from the liquor store, and the media gets ahold of it.

Chali says this still isn't an Avatar matter. Beila, who has no detective skills anyway, defers to his expertise, meditates, reads her book - turns up to her firebending lesson.

Comments

[in_silk]

For someone almost as tall as Dao, the bloodbender can make himself astonishingly tiny. He leans into Dao's lap and curls up into a little shivering ball of person.

[thinklikethis]

Dao hugs him, and murmurs soothing meaningless syllables, and feels very very strange about this turn his life has taken. But. This guy clearly needed a hug. He needs like an entire lifetime of hugs. Dao appreciates the value of hugs on a very deep level. He can hug the terrified serial killer.

[in_silk]

The terrified serial killer is now crying on him.

[thinklikethis]

That's, yeah, that is not a huge surprise.

[in_silk]

He may be a while.

[thinklikethis]

That's... mostly fine. But Dao feels kind of dizzy and sleepy, and isn't sure how long he can avoid falling asleep.

[in_silk]

Before that can come to pass, he uncurls and moves away.

[thinklikethis]

Dao lets go immediately.

[in_silk]

"...I want to trust you," he says, very very quietly. "I want to. If... will you promise you won't try to run away, or tell anyone you're here, or anything?"

[thinklikethis]

"Yes, sure, of course," says Dao. "I promise."

[in_silk]

"How do I know you aren't just saying that?" he says helplessly.

[thinklikethis]

"Honestly, right now, as long as I'm pretty sure you're not going to kill me in the next like couple of days, which I am, I want to be here more than I want to be running away. I want to actually help you, I don't want to get you arrested. You don't - I, like - if I was the one who was going around ripping people's bones out and you were the one who was - talking to me about it, I'd rather you actually talked to me and didn't run off and call the cops, you know?"

[in_silk]

He takes a long moment to consider this logic.

"...Okay."

[thinklikethis]

"Okay," says Dao. "So. Um. If I'm not going to be tied to a chair the entire time I'm here, can I like - have breakfast, and maybe a nap somewhere with less," he gestures at the sculpture looming over them, "giant bone spider?"

[in_silk]

He smiles a tiny barely-there flicker of a smile. "Yes. Okay."

[thinklikethis]

Dao climbs to his feet, leaning on the chair. This makes him feel even dizzier, and when he lets go of the chair he sways a little and almost falls over.

[in_silk]

But doesn't.

[thinklikethis]

...creepy. But helpful. But creepy. But, admittedly, helpful.

He's just glad it's dark enough down here that his blush is probably not visible, because that's just what this situation needs, right, a discussion of his inappropriate reaction to bloodbending, that'll help and will not in any way make the whole fucked-up situation ten times more awkward.

"Um. Thanks. I think I'm good now," he says.

[in_silk]

"Go on upstairs," says the bloodbender.

[thinklikethis]

So Dao goes upstairs. With the bone-stealing serial killer walking silently behind him. Which on the one hand is totally unfair and not something any reasonable person should have to do, and on the other hand, he's pretty sure he's genuinely less scared of this guy than this guy is of him.

[in_silk]

It's a small house, and every curtain or shutter on every window is firmly closed with only a tiny bit of morning sunlight leaking in around the edges, and the furniture is sparse and not well-organized. It looks... lonely and sad.

[thinklikethis]

Okay now Dao wants to hug the guy again.

But instead, something occurs to him: "Hey, um, what's your name? Or. A name, I don't care if it's like, your real one or whatever, I just," he shrugs.

[in_silk]

"...you can call me Spider," he says hesitantly.

[thinklikethis]

Well then.

"Sure," he says. "Okay. I'm Dao."

[in_silk]

"The kitchen's over here. Sorry I don't... have very much."