A Beast Of Fire and Flesh (O/O - Closed)

Her ears perked slightly, shoulders tensing for a moment as he first met her lip with the paper towel, before she relaxed. "That's alright. Not a lot of people are, actually, but that's fine. Just means it's easier to communicate with others who aren't." Mitsu said, lips twitching up slightly, before falling. "Thank you. I'm sorry, I-it keeps happening. I still can't keep the sight out of my head, all the blood and the smell."

"You're not here to watch me forget who I am, though." She said, shaking her head. Her hands twisted in her lap, fingers tangling and untangling, playing with her ring. "You're here for answers. And I should be focusing ahead. I really am sorry for that. It's…so hard, with my brother's state and the house and everything. I just have to power through though."

Her eyes were sad, but there was a determined set to her jaw. Something that made it look like she was stronger than she showed. She would make it through this if she had to drag herself. "Those pictures. I still have to show them to you. Want to try that again?"

“This time I’m going to make it. All the way there and back.” Mitsu muttered to herself, sliding off the chair and stretching. Her shirt rose a tiny bit with the movement, and for a split second, a strip of tanned and scarred skin was visible. Then she was moving for the door.

“The timer’s gonna go off in a minute and a half, could you pull the cupcakes out for me? Just set the pans on the cooling rack over there, oven mits are by the stove. I’ll be right back with the photos.” She promised, before slipping out into the hallway.

Mitsune's ears picked out Cole's words, drawing a laugh to her lips. A welcome distraction that came just as she was passing the living room, pushing the thoughts that always seemed to be clouding her mind away. The oven did go off while she was gone, a musical sort of chiming sounding from it. It payed to have a brother who loved mechanic things.

She made her way to her room, upstairs. It was near the stairway, a peculiar request of hers when she'd first moved in. Her father and brother had shared a confused look at the specificity of the request, but had told her the rooms right there weren't being used for anything at all. She was grateful. It gave her a close escape incase things turned for the worst.

When she had finally grabbed the box, she made her way back down to the kitchen, plopping it on the table. "Pictures, case file copies, and evidence." Evidence she definitely shouldn't have, considering that was something for the police. "All on the murder. I have another couple boxes with the stuff from the other murders that I could…acquire."

"I wouldn't have blamed you if you had been. You're not the only one who does." She teased, some of that Kitsune mischief sparking in her eyes once again. "If you weren't talking to yourself, though," She said, pulling out stacks of files and the different photos. It wasn't hard to notice that she was avoiding looking at the photos. "Who were you talking to?"

Mitsune's eyes flickered up as Cole laughed—or, did sort of—to find his face, tilting her head slightly. That was…a sound. One she kind of liked. And that light in his eyes when he spoke of his Lesser Soul was nice. Different from his usual grouchy expression. I wonder if I can get him to laugh like that more.

"He sounds great, honestly. It must be nice, having a constant companion like that." She commented, lips turning up in a smile as her eyes sparkled. "And it's sweet, that he gave that up to help you. Not many creatures would give up essential immortality."

"He's not…wrong, exactly. It is dumb." Mitsune said, her eyes dropping to the folder in her hand as she flipped through it. She didn't need to. She had every folder in here memorize, could pull to mind every photo and see them clearly. That was her curse, or one of them. "But there are people that could get hurt, and killed. We could be killed. If we have the chance to do something…"

"I'm constantly wondering if Tana and I were supposed to die that night too. If my brother was lucky he was out with friends and if I was lucky I was late, because I stopped on the way home to buy dinner for one of the guys who hangs outside the grocery store hoping to get a couple dollars." She said, setting the file down and tracing one of the scars along her wrist, that trailed partly up her forearm. "You know, there was a kill a couple days before my dad. This couple, a selkie and her husband. They left a daughter behind. She's nine, living with her aunt and terrified that the bad guy who hurt her parents will come back for her aunt and her. I call her every night just to make sure she's okay, and I've got friends making sure nothing suspicious happens in her neighborhood. The people who died-they're not the only ones who were hurt by this, and they might not be the last. And there are other people who are going to die. And it's dumb, yeah, but can he blame me? Us?" Mistu arched a brow, turning fully to look at Cole, her strangely colored eyes meeting his. "The police won't do anything. They only care about non-marginalized cases in general, and it's worse for anyone who's not human. But somebody has to. Somebody has to care."

((gfdhsjs mitsu went OFF))

"That's what we need." Mitsu said, lifting a hand like she wanted to place it on his shoulder, before letting it drop back to her side. "Someone else willing to do what it takes to protect people who can't protect themselves." There was something in her tone, something that matched the flicker in her eyes of something darker. "We're taking this fucker down." Even if it kills me. "Think you can handle that?"

"You don't seem too much like the type." She commented, arching a brow up at him. Mitsu's lips parted just a bit in a smile that bared her sharpened teeth, which were a mix of adorable and slightly scary, the latter only to humans. "But it'll do. Now. You go over these, I have cupcakes to keep working on."

She made her way back to the counter, busying herself with the cupcakes. "Ask me any questions you have about this stuff. And try not to fuck any of it up, not that I think you will. Getting new copies'd be a pain in my ass."

"Yeah. It was my father's." Mitsu confirmed,carefully keeping her eyes on the cupcakes she was frosting. There was that incredible frosting skill, her hands deft and gentle when placing any decoration. "There has been one more after him. Usually, the kills were within days of each other, but if you look at the timeline, they've slowly been spreading out. Some would say it means the killer's declining, but…"

"Sort of. My guess? It's planning out each kill, stalking it's target." Which was a terrifying thought, considering the secret she was hiding from everyone around her. "Waiting for just the right moment, like you said. It's learning to hunt, basically. And that…that's even more scary than the senseless killing." Her hands shook just slightly, and she muttered a string of curses as she squished the frosting just slightly. The whole thing was nearly unnoticeable, but she continued the muttering in a blend of languages, setting the 'failed' cupcake to the side. Screwup. Failure. You couldn't save your father, and you can't even decorate a simple cupcake-

"That's why I'm doing this. So that people like us, like you, aren't hunted by something that feels no remorse." Mitsu said, shrugging a shoulder.

When he came up behind her, she stilled for a moment, hands pausing. Then she continued her work, shrugging again. "It's bad. I messed up. See, over where I tried to put the sugar pearl? I smushed it in. That's-I can't let anyone see those. I can't decorate right, I guess. God, it's my hands. I think they're spazzing out-"

"I can't just stop now, Cole. I have to get these finished for Anya." Mitsune muttered, hands moving quickly. The whole room smelled of cupcakes and sweet things, and it was incredibly hard to tell where that scent stopped and her's picked up. She didn't miss the caramel, though, and smoke. She didn't use caramel often, and smoke made no sense in any other context. It was a strangely intoxicating smell, one that reminded her of the rare camping trips she and her father and brother had gone on when she was a kid. "I don't des-I can't afford breaks, anyway." There was never time for breaks. Not right now. Her hands were starting to shake again though, and she had to lift them to avoid ruing another cupcake. "I didn't screw anything on these up, did I?"

"Mom said breaks are for people who-who don't care where life throws them." Mitsune muttered, her voice so soft it was barely even there. She didn't pull her arm from his grip, just stood there for a moment, staring at the cupcake, before blinking suddenly. Nodding once, she stepped away from the counter, letting him lead her back to the table. "Okay. Just a short break, though. Um…." She needed to think of something to say, to talk about. Something not…herself. "What's your favorite food?"

"I've never eaten deer, in any form." Mitsune mused, gazing down at her ring as she spun it around her finger. The stone glinted in the light, a dark chunk of obsidian that, for a split second, seemed to have something swirling inside of it. "When I was little, I almost did, I think. When I was really little, we went to some fancy dinner for my dad's work, and that was supposed to be the main course. I had an allergic reaction to the shrimp side they served though." She wrinkled her nose, huffing a laugh. "I think there's a restaurant a couple blocks away that serves venison. It's actually near one of the crime scenes, so that's…."

She tilted her head, eyes following something across the kitchen. Something that wasn't there. She seemed unaware that she had trailed off, shaking her head once as her hand shifted, finger almost seeming to be pointing at something on one of the counters. Something shifted on the counter, and she nodded, blinking as her eyes trailed back to the door. "It might be a place to stop by. Visiting the crime scenes, you know."