Vitam et Mortem IC - Altsoba Off Campus

BrookeDi

BrookeDi

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Professor Bell

The detective glanced between the professor and Mia and nodded. "Mostly, just get him talking about the murder. We still don't.... technically have a reason to hold him, other than the fact that he's a hunter. If he's the one who killed the Victim, he may be behind some of the other deaths of Altsoba students. Beyond that, just... figure out as much as you can." He thought for a moment and then held up a finger.

"Wait here."

He left the three of them alone in that small room while he disappeared out into the rest of the precinct. While he was gone, Professor Bell reminded Mia that she didn't have to do this.

When he returned he had a small device in his hand. He offered it to Mia, "Put it in your ear." When she did so, he pulled out his wand, speaking quietly into it. "Testing, testing. 1, 2, 3." His voice would sound in her ear, quietly. "I can feed you questions, if you get stuck."
 
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Mia nodded. She wished they would give her more specific things, but she figured that the questions would just come to her as she was speaking. Of course, there was always the chance that she would freeze up.

She looked at Professor Bell. She could tell that he was worried, and sure, that was reasonable, but she was feeling okay about it. "I doubt that he'll hurt me," she said. "We were - are - friends." Before anyone could bring up the fact that he may have killed his girlfriend, the detective returned.

She grimaced as she placed the tech in her left ear. She'd never liked putting things in her ears, but she couldn't really turn it down. She pulled the fabric of her hijab over it, hiding it from anyone that didn't know it was there. "It's working. Thank you," she said with a nod.

She wrung her hands as she looked into the interrogation room. "Are we ready?" She asked.
 
Professor Bell

He gave one more worried glance between the detective, who nodded, and Mia who seemed nervous but not really terrified. "Alright." He agreed and the detective led Mia out the door and around the corner to the other door that would lead her into the interrogation room.

The professor turned back toward the window and for a second he saw the Hunter how Mia probably saw him. A scared, young boy in an unknown place.

Eric

He wasn't really sure what they were waiting for. Every day they had dragged him into this room, cuffed him to the table and someone would come in and interrogate him about Maxine. It was killing him inside, the constant reminder that it was his fault she was dead... but he would tell them nothing. They didn't know what had happened, they hadn't been there, and they wouldn't listen to him if he had tried to explain.

He'd tried to tell those two women that he had loved Maxine and they hadn't believed him, why should these so-called police?

He sighed, letting his eyes wander around the room. Eric had come to accept whatever his fate would be here, considering it a well deserved punishment. Tired brown eyes flicked to the wall when the door opened. Who would it be today? The guy who asked him a dozen questions or the one who always tried to get a rise out of Eric with hateful words?
 
The door was open, but Mia took a second. She wasn't going to break down, and she wasn't going to shout. She was just going to ask him questions, get some answers, and maybe get them to release Eric. But the only way that was going to happen was if they cleared him of suspicion. And Mia wasn't totally sure how they could prove he was innocent.

She cleared her throat. No point in standing out here anymore. She took a deep breath, and stepped into the room.

She froze as soon as both feet were in the room, not expecting him to be looking in her direction. Her hands, by her sides, clenched around the fabric of her jeans. "Eric," she said as a greeting, voice a mixture of forced casualness, panic, and pain.
 
Professor Bell

It was the professor's voice in her ear, rather than the detectives. "You're doing fine." He murmured, trying to give her some confidence.

Eric

The young Hunter blinked in surprise when a familiar face stepped through the door. He sat up straighter, leaning forward, displaying real emotion for the first time since he'd been brought there. "Mia? I... what are you doing here?"
 
Mia resisted the urge to put a hand to her ear. If Eric thought that she was being fed her responses, he wouldn't trust her. She let go of her jeans, wiping her sweating hands on the fabric. "I'm here with my professor," she admitted. No point lying to him. "We came to...well, we thought it was going to be a dangerous hunter, but..." she gestured to Eric, sitting in the chair with no resistance about him. As she spoke, she shakily walked to the chair that an interrogator would normally sit in and sat down, folding her hands in her lap.
 
Eric

"But you just got me, instead." He let out a laugh that sounded more like a choke and he looked on the verge of tears as he continued, "Sorry to disappoint." He sighed as he watched her and her hesitance. Was she scared of him?

There was no use in denying what he was. What was the point in lying, anyway? "I guess we were both keeping secrets. I guess the unfair part was me knowing yours a long time ago."
 
Mia let out a chuckle, and shook her head. "I guess I'd rather you than someone actually dangerous," she said.

She lifted her head at his confession. "Really? How come?" She asked nervously, afraid that he was about to get her arrested for revealing magic to someone previously thought to be mundane. She coughed awkwardly. "Sorry, I have to ask. Did she know?" She couldn't say her name.
 
Eric

He shrugged a shoulder. "Just did, I guess. It's like..." He paused to think about it and then lowered his voice. He wasn't stupid and he knew that somewhere, somehow someone was watching him. "You know how some people can kind of tell when someone is staring at you, or when you get goosebumps when you're kind of creeped out? It's kind of like that, but inside."

At the mention of Maxine Eric took a long, slow breath and he nodded. "Yes. The day I gave her my promise ring, I told her the truth."
 
Mia nodded thoughtfully. "I see," she mumbled. It would be useful if it went both ways, but Mia had never felt anything like that around Eric. Or, heaven forbid, around Chris.

She stared at the table, thinking around the ring around Maxine's finger. She managed a half-laugh. "She never took it off," she mumbled. She rubbed a finger under her eyes, trying to stop the tears before they even started.
 
Eric

A sad smile flickered onto his face but it barely lasted more than a second. "She was so happy when I gave it to her." Talking to Mia now about Maxine, it felt like his heart was breaking a second time around. "I'm guessing that they told you why they brought me here." Eric said after a long pause. He wouldn't meet her eyes.

The voice in Mia's ear spoke up then, "Ask him about Maxine."
 
Mia fixed her eyes on Eric's face. He didn't look remorseful, or like he regretted anything. He just looked so sad. "They think that you..." She sighed heavily. She didn't even know what she thought.

She flinched at the voice in her ear. How was she supposed to do that smoothly? She cleared her throat. "The last we saw her was the sixth of October. In the evening," she said quietly. "Did you see her after then? Even just later on in the night."
 
Eric

He sighed, disappointed. They thought he killed Maxine and Mia looked like she might believe them. His dark eyes filled with tears and he leaned forward, blocking the view of those in the watching room with Mia's body. "Yes. She asked to meet with me. We..." His voice broke and he had to pause to wipe at his eyes.

"We met at the park." Again he was interrupted with a choking, heart wrenching sob.
 
Mia's heart was breaking. There was nothing she could do for him. Even if he said that he had nothing to do with Maxine's disappearance, would the officers really believe him? His silence was damning. And if even if they believed him, he was still a hunter. They wouldn't let him go.

She reached across the table and rested her hand on his. God, she wanted to reach across the table and hug him, but she felt like none of the adults would have been too pleased. "Take your time. Was it the same park that you gave her the promise ring? In Banff?"
 
Professor Bell

The professor grew frustrated that they couldn't see the boy's face but they could all hear the unmistakable sound of... crying. And it wasn't coming from Mia.

Molly had moved to the edge of the window, getting a glimpse of the side of his face. "He's... crying," she murmured, disbelieving.

All three of them tensed as they watched Mia reach a hand out to touch Eric, but all he did was place his free hand on hers. He nodded, and Molly relayed this information to the other two.

Eric

He took a long, shuddering breath and looked up to meet Mia's eyes. "I didn't..." And then he really started crying, the tears falling freely and loud, broken sobs escaped from his chest. "I tried to stop her, Mia. I tried and I failed Maxine."
 
Mia's throat was tight, her eyes blurry. He hadn't said anything particularly telling, but somehow, she knew. Something horrible had happened to Maxine.

She didn't know what she was expecting. For Eric to turn around and tell them she had just ran away? She squeezed his hand, again using her finger to wipe at her eyes. The way that Eric was speaking...would Maxine do something horrible to herself? She didn't dare ask. "It's okay, it's okay," she whispered. "She loved you. Whatever happened, she loved you."
 
Eric

It was quiet except for the sounds of Eric trying to get it together. He'd been holding it in for so long, though and it felt nice to let it out, to actively mourn, to drop his guard for a few minutes.

Finally he was able to speak. "I know she did." He sighed and as he did a voice spoke up in Mia's ear, the detective.

"Ask him what happened, what did he try to stop? You're doing really good."
 
Mia didn't want to rush him. She stayed quiet, trying to keep her hand still. For a while, she was still wiping at her eyes with her finger, before she descended into rubbing them with her fists. The question was screaming in her head to be answered, but she couldn't force him to stop crying.

She nodded at his words, but as soon as the detective's voice came in she was annoyed. She knew that they needed their information, but, really, couldn't they leave the two of them alone? At the end of the day, though, she supposed that was here to get them their answers.

"Please, Eric," she whispered. "What happened to Maxine?"
 
Eric

He stiffened. It was the same question that had been asked over and over again, except she'd been the only one who hadn't asked "What did you do to Maxine?" She'd asked what had happened.

Images from that night filled his brain. His sister looking confused and hurt. The wounded look on Maxine's face. The triumphant smile of his mother. Maxine shoving the promise ring into her mouth.

All the blood.

Seeing a witch die had never been so painful.

"It's my fault." He said, finally. "I didn't do anything to her and I didn't do what they think I did... but it is my fault." He withdrew his hands, staring blankly at the wall behind Mia, unseeing the sorcerers who stood behind it. "I deserve whatever happens to me here. You should go now, Mia."
 
When she felt his hand move away from under hers, Mia moved as well. She placed both of her hands on the table, all big palms and small fingers. She stared at the space between her fingers, breathing steadily. The words Eric said echoed in her head. She lifted her head to see that he wasn't even looking in her direction, but past her. Was that where the one way glass was? She couldn't remember.

She stood up, but she was just leaning over the table. "H-hey, hey," she said sharply, clicking her fingers in his face. "Focus, focus." She'd done this before, when Maxine freaked out because she'd lost her saxophone reed right before a competition. She didn't sound too sure of herself now, with bloodshot eyes and sweaty hands and a trembling voice. "It can't be your fault. It can't. I know you, and I know-" she stopped, feeling the disapproval from behind the one-way glass, despite having not said anything. "I-I can't tell you what I know. But I know that whatever happened, you did your best for Maxine, and you can do your best for her again now. Please, Eric, I need to know what happened to her."
 
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