IF I CAN'T PUN ICLY, THEN BY GOD I'M GOING TO TAKE EVERY OOC CHANCE I'VE GOT

[frostythehitman]

WHO: James, Fynn, Togusa, Malik, and Grell! Not necessarily in that order
WHERE: Starting in some rundown area of Recolle idk, eventually heading to the RPD, and then....the hospital? Or, uh, wherever it is Grell looks at body parts.
WHEN: 7/10-ish
WHAT: James gets a handy delivery from Retrospec that has him scrambling to stay palm and get rid of it before he's caught red-handed. But, things will very quickly get out of hand.....
WARNINGS: well, there's a dismembered arm getting set on fire, so. take that as you will.

Comments

on high alARM [James, Malik, Fynn]

[frostythehitman]

[ Time since opening this new package: about an hour.

That's roughly how long it took for James to open it up, see an honest to god FLESH AND BLOOD REAL DISMEMBERED ARM, and scream and panic for a few minutes. Then look at it again and poke it, just to make sure, and freak out again upon realizing it's actually, really, 100% real. Then about half an hour for him to stop shaking, start breathing normally again, and put together a plan of action.

Which is why he's now carrying his guitar case through the streets, walking as briskly as one can while carrying a guitar case gingerly like a newborn baby. He's sweating bullets and looks skittish. He wants nothing more than to get to his destination already and quit it with the paranoia. ]

[godcards]

[ Hey buddy. You know what would help with that paranoia? Running into that dickbag that got into a fight with you at prom. No big deal. Though it's less 'running into' and more, Malik definitely sees James, and sees him acting weird, so he decides to tail for a block or two to see what's up.

It'll probably be harder to get punched in the face again while James has his arms full, and Malik sees no reason why he shouldn't capitalize on this opportunity.

So, from behind James, he says: ]

Hey. You steal something?

[ LIKE IT'S THE MOST CASUAL QUESTION IN THE WORLD. ]

[frostythehitman]

[ Can people jump three feet into the air out of pure terror? Because James is pretty sure he just did. His heart may have stopped too. He might be clinically dead right now.

He tries his best to school his face into an expression of neutrality but he's not fooling anyone, least of all himself. At least the annoyance in his tone is genuine. Ugh, he hates this guy. ]

No. What, a guy can't walk down the street with his guitar in peace?

[godcards]

[ RIP Bucky. ]

A guy could, but that's not you - I could see you sweating all the way down the block. [ His gaze is almost cat-like as it focuses on the case. ] It's not like I'll go to the police... You obviously have something that isn't a guitar. If you planned on stealing something you should try to be a little more discreet.

[ He's pretty blatantly mocking, sorry not sorry. ]

[frostythehitman]

[ He hugs the case tighter at first, as if keeping it closer will somehow help. But then he forces himself to reconsider--the grip on the case is caused the issue in the first place, right?

Slowly, partially to not to jostle the arm inside the case too loudly and partially to telegraph just how casual he is about this, James shifts the guitar case to one arm, then slings the strap over the shoulder and across his back. ]

I didn't steal anything. Unlike you, I've got better things to do than steal stuff. Like work on songs for my new album.

[ He's trying to be cool and nonchalant but he just looks and sounds angry instead. And while the fear has left his pose, he still looks extremely tense. ]

[godcards]

[ That jab doesn't even hurt, come on. ]

Like you are right now? Is that why you were practically rushing down the street?

[ Given that he isn't drunk and on edge like he was at prom, Malik is unfortunately enjoying this - his shiteating grin evidence of it. He knows something is up, even if James didn't actually steal anything - but his behavior is a serious red flag, being seen by a kid who's more than familiar with illegal activities. ]

Whatever it is that you're doing... You're going to get caught.

[frostythehitman]

[ James clenches his jaw and narrows his eyes. ]

I'm not going to get caught, because there's nothing worth getting caught for!

[ He says it not just as a retort to Malik, but also as a reassurance for himself. He's going to get rid of this arm, he's going to go home, he's going to pretend like none of this ever happened, and no one will be the wiser.

But to do that, he has to get going. Before the arm starts...rotting, or smelling, or whatever it is corpses do, he's not actually sure. And the longer he sticks around here, the more likely he is to actually get caught.

So, bye Malik. This is James turning his back to you and starting to walk away. Yeah, he's supremely uncomfortable with having his guitar case exposed to him like this, but he has to keep up the act of nonchalance somehow. ]

[godcards]

[ Malik slows his pace, letting James get ahead. It would be simple enough to skulk off to find something else to kill time, or somewhere else he could stir up trouble. But Malik doesn't like the feeling that he's lost control of a situation, or that he's lost. He doesn't just let go.

So he starts following James again. He wants to know what is in the case. He wants to know what James is up to. A guitar case if far larger than anything he'd tried to steal - from stores, pickpocketing, or otherwise - but he can't help but wonder, reaching his hand out slowly, if maybe, just maybe, he could hook his thumb under the strap and lift it up and over James' head fast enough before he could get all defensive and grabby.

He's going to try, and then he could finally find out what's in that stupid guitar case. ]

[frostythehitman]

[ You might think that, being on high alert, James would notice the strap's movement, but he just chalks the weird twinge up to nerves.

At least until he sees the strap snap over his head and the guitar case leaves his grasp entirely.

He immediately whirls around and makes a jump for it. He is not about to let this guitar case fall into the wrong hands, goddammit, and if that means tackling Malik and the case to the ground, then so be it. ]

Get your hands off it--

the truth? you can't HANDle the truth! [James, Togusa]

[frostythehitman]

[ By now, it's gone totally dark outside. James's curfew is rapidly approaching. And here he is, sitting in a police station having just been caught trying to dispose human remains. There's no way this ends well--there's a ball of dread gnawing away at his stomach and making him feel queasy about just how wrong this could all go. But he's not about to just give up. Just about the only thing he's said so far this whole time is: ]

I'm not talking to anyone except Officer Togusa.

[ And he's going to keep repeating it to anyone who comes near him until he gets what he wants. ]

[standalonehuman]

James actually doesn't have long to wait, and that is the true sign of how screwed he is. On other cases, the cops might try to sweat James out, run him through the show, wear down his defenses. And that's probably what James is expecting. But they actually instantly give in to his demands. There's part of a body: they want James talking, and they want him talking now.

The only delay is Togusa waiting outside of the interview room trying to get his head on straight. Because this? This is Above-my-pay-grade territory, verging on the Free State of I'm-not-trained-for-this. There's a body part. Togusa hasn't seen it, just a snapshot. There are exactly two possibilities for why James specifically called for Togusa. One: he wants to confess something terrible to the only guy on the force he actually likes. Trained interrogators learn to build up a fast rapport for exactly that reason. Someone suspects are more comfortable around, they're more likely to tell the full truth to. Or two: this involves Retrospec. And wouldn't that just brighten up Togusa's day? The Bingo game was too harmless. Of course things couldn't stay quiet for long.

But as he is sitting outside the interview room, watching James, Togusa realizes that the answer might be Both. Quick, how much does he actually know about James? High school student musician, on the football team, lives with his father on the nearby army base. Nervous around cops, tries to cover it up with an odd sense of humor. Same dark sense of humor that comes out in his music.

But then there's the other James, the one that neither James or Togusa knows much about, but Togusa got to watch come to life as soon as that kid had his hands wrapped around a gun. The one that out-shot him with ease in a friendly match. The one who has memories that are probably so much more violent than anything James should ever have to deal with. It's a theory that Ardyn floated that this process of Retrospec's is a way for the two to try to reconcile, the old memories with the new. But what happens in the meantime? And which one is Togusa dealing with here?

Togusa sets his jaw and takes a deep breath. He has to get the fear off his face: fear of what the hell he's going to learn in that interview room. It schools his expression into one of grim seriousness when he walks through the door. There is only the slightest pause as he looks James over before shutting the door behind him. He is very deliberate, doesn't look away from James as he walks over to the chair, puts down a pad of paper, and has a seat.

"I ordered everybody out of the observation room. It's just you and me." The truth, because Togusa's only condition that he dared put on this was that he doesn't get somebody over his shoulder. "We have not contacted your father yet. You haven't been charged with anything yet." Laying everything he can out on the table for James before this even starts.

He makes full-on eye contact with James. How scared is he, how nervous is he? Does he think he can manipulate Togusa, or is he here because Togusa is the only one he trusts?

"Where do you want to start?"

[frostythehitman]

Amazingly, it's James's first time being in an interview room. It's his first time being arrested, even. For someone who's picked so many fights and gotten into so much trouble, he's largely been shielded by the tight knit community on base and the sway his father holds there. So he has no idea what to expect, has no concept of how any of this should go, beyond what he's seen in police procedurals on TV.

The stiff terror only abates once the door opens and he sees Togusa enter. He lets out a breath he didn't realize he was holding and practically deflates, crumpling in on himself for a moment.

"Oh, thank god," he mutters. He thinks he might cry. He can't call this a dream come true because everything to do with this terrible Retrospec package is still some horrible, screwed up nightmare. But at the very least, they gave him what he asked for.

James forces himself to take a breath and try to figure out how to even put words to the tangled knot of thoughts in his head right now. When he finally straightens up, he tries to look Togusa in the eyes, but only manages it for a second. He can't handle acknowledging that eye contact right now, not after what happened today.

"Look, I swear--this is all Retrospec's fault. They sent it to me, okay?"

[standalonehuman]

The brief look he gets off of James hits Togusa like a punch and he immediately has to rethink his strategy. No, you are dealing with the scared teenager in absolutely over his head. You both are, really. And the confirmation that this is Retrospec's fault makes it all worse. He cant let himself react how he'd like to yet. But he almost feels guilty for even assuming this could have been intentional. Play it carefully, though.

Togusa holds out a hand in a calming gesture. "All right." A breath out. "All right. Take it from the start, then. You got sent the arm," doesn't falter over the acknowledgement of why they're there, "just like we've been getting sent other items, through some kind of courier service?"

[frostythehitman]

"Yeah." He exhales. God, hearing it put that way sounds so ridiculous, but this is just the reality of his life now, isn't it? "Yeah. It was just sitting there like any normal package. I didn't think when I opened it that there would be a severed arm hidden under all the packing peanuts!"

[standalonehuman]

Togusa keeps his voice low, trying to project some kind of calm to James. "Right. Did you keep the packaging, anything we might be able to use? It's all right if you didn't." He is betting the answer is no, but you have to cover all the bases when questioning like this.

Why didn't you call us? We would have helped. Except Togusa already knows the answer to that. What could they have done? Would James' father have found out? What if anyone other than Togusa had come?

[frostythehitman]

"Yeah, I--I think I still have it. It's all folded and torn up, but I still have it. I was going to get rid of it after the arm."

Not that that was much of an intentional strategy--he was so panicked when he realized what he'd received, he focused purely on getting the arm out of the house that all he did to the box was jam it into a corner of his closet as an afterthought. James is pretty sure that the floor of the living room is still covered in all those packing peanuts. Which he was okay with--he'd rather get chewed out for making a mess in the living room than for having part of a human body with him.

Not that it matters now anyway, considering he got caught by the police. But Togusa said he hasn't been charged yet and his father hasn't been called, which are helping him keep his cool if only just a little.

[standalonehuman]

Togusa relaxes slightly. "James. This is good. We can prove that you got sent this, and that you're getting framed." His voice gets insistent. "You didn't hurt anyone. Whatever- the hell Retrospec did to get this to you, that's not your fault, either. We're going to figure this out, and you're going to be okay. We're eventually going to go need to get the packing materials. But once we have the evidence in hand, it'll be all right. I've got superior officers who know about Retrospec, they can make this go away."

He pauses, trying to catch James' eye again, seeing if the message is getting through.

exARMination time [James, Togusa, Grell]

[frostythehitman]

[ One attempted body disposal and police interrogation later, the question still remains: what is the deal with this arm, anyway?

Thankfully there's one person who might be able to help them--which is how James is now getting driven to see a certain Retrospec doctor with a certain skill in looking at dead bodies. ]

[erythristic]

[the Recolle Medical Examiner's office is located in perhaps the only place it can be - the basement of the hospital so it can be right next to the morgue. perhaps not the best for city planning, but it makes access easy.

Grell Sutcliffe takes the call, and agrees easily enough for an examination, being ready to meet the men once they descend the elevator with the mentioned body part in tow. as long as she can claim the young man is with Togusa, he might even get to see her work. all depends.

in any case, she steps forward, offering her hand out to the stranger when she sees him.]

You're James, right?

[standalonehuman]

Togusa has been quietly leading James along, he is James' ticket through any security. And, frankly, their ticket through any security is the biohazard-tagged evidence box that Togusa is carrying. It's been quiet and grim enough that no one is questioning them as they go through.

He nods slowly to Dr. Sutcliffe as he passes over the box. "Dr. Sutcliffe, James Barnes. James, Dr. Sutcliffe. She's the best on our staff, and she's- one of us." So, at least she'll better understand the situation.

[frostythehitman]

[ In a very rare turn of events, for once James is very quietly following behind with barely a complaint or comment. The whole day from start to finish has kind of put a damper on his usual bluster, leaving him raw, quiet, and...agreeable, honestly. As he's led through security to the basement of the hospital, he does nothing but watch and take it all in. All of this is foreign to him, and it's simultaneously cool and kind of scary.

As they finally meet Dr. Sutcliffe, though, he snaps to attention and watches the box exchange hands.
]

Uh, yeah. James. That's me.

[ He opens his mouth to ask something, but Togusa's explanation answers him before he even has to say anything. ]

Oh--oh, okay. So--she knows. Cool. Cool. Good.

[ So he probably doesn't have to defend or explain himself beyond a single-line explanation. All the better, in his opinion.

He turns and gestures to the room. ]

So what's gonna...happen here, exactly?

[erythristic]

Grell gives Togusa half a smile when he introduces her - she'd hardly label herself the best at her rank, but she's hardly complaining. Taking the box from him, she beckons the two to follow her down the hall into the examination room.

"What's going to happen is that I'm going to see what we can deduce from this and get as much information out of it as possible, including seeing if we can actually match this to anyone, and beyond that, we can decide whether this is going to be put into cold storage or destroyed."

Inside the room, she raises a hand to stop them as she proceeds in, setting the box down on the metal table and going to grab gloves.

"Close the door and lock it. You can come over and look, but by God, don't think about touching it right now. Did you handle it with gloves or without? If the former, then we'll need to take a set of temporary prints so that I can cross off any of yours from evidence found. Hitori, do tell me the officer in charge of things was at least that cautious, or if not, can I have a name so I can keep them out of trouble?"

Opening the box now, her face is set as she lifts out the arm with care, turning it over so she can see if there are wounds or the like on it beyond the obvious. How much damage were the boys able to do?

"You've won the prize for oddest postal delivery from them in a while, I have to say."

[frostythehitman]

James doubles back to the door to lock it before walking back over to the metal table.

As Grell lifts the arm to examine it, it's clear that the skin on the arm is burnt in a few scant areas, but only superficially on the top layers of the skin. And most everywhere, it's largely untouched. Turns out, burning a limb requires a lot more time, effort, and firepower than James realized.

He does wince at her question though.

"I...handled it without any gloves on." The thing is probably covered in his fingerprints and he didn't even realize it. Even the part of him that was rational enough to consider the fingerprint factor had been convinced that he'd succeed in actually getting rid of the arm, so there was no reason to wear anything over his hands.

[standalonehuman]

Togusa leans back against a different table, happy to keep out of Grell's way. "Oh, guess who is having the best month of his life: Officer Izunia brought him in. And yeah, he stuck to regulations for once in his life. When things get serious, he can stick back to the book."

He frowns along with James when he admits that he'd touched it. Well. Okay, not the best of circumstances, but we'll get back to the question of 'is any report we put Retrospec's name on just going to vanish?' later.

"We've got James' prints, from when we processed him," Togusa points out. "I'll be impressed if you get anything, Kihara over in CSI hasn't pulled a single print off anything we've given him so far."

[erythristic]

To James, her expression softens a little bit, something like a silent it's fine. It happens, it's why she had countermeasures, and honestly that he was fully processed works to everyone's advantage. Sure, he burned the evidence, but...at the same time, he's a kid in comparison to her. And things happen, especially when they were dealing with Retrospec.

To Togusa, her eyebrow raises, and then she shrugs. "If prints turn up useless, then I can always look into checking for chemical traces, a DNA profile, any of that. Every test I need to throw at it, I will." She'll send the request for prints later, after she has something to compare them to. "Right now, let's figure out how recently our John Doe lost this arm, if that's at all possible."

Avoiding the burns, she begins to look the arm over, testing how easily it moves, checking the skin color, and looking where it was severed to figure out how neatly it was all done. All are clues - all might be able to tell them something, and she knows Togusa must already be on the trail of packaging material and what that would contain.