( OPEN 💀 case of the glitching city )

[incorrigibles]

Who: charles rowland + you
Where: in vague places around aldrip
What: glitches for you, and you, and also you —
Warnings: mentions of death and dying, mr. rowland's a+ parenting (abuse, racism, homophobia)

STARTERS IN COMMENTS.

❯ OPEN — the ghost-to-human au nobody asked for
❯ OPEN — the wet kitten option, with a dash of hypothermia
❯ CLOSED TO EXISTING CR — what do you mean his horrible death wasn't the worst of it?

❯ want something else? feel free to wildcard it or hmu @ celen
❯ your soundtrack for this: ♫ ♫

Comments

[incorrigibles]

[ look it's proper detective protocol to make case notes! and on the occasions charles and edwin have split up their investigative work, charles has actually taken notes then, too, so. it's just the thing to do!

he listens to the explanation, though it leaves him with more questions than he started with. ]

So, you're saying... this place now resembles that parallel Aldrip? And the locals also, what, had personality changes? Lost some of their previous memories? Seems real unlikely they all just changed their beliefs because of a parallel world, like, out of their own free will.

[murderingjustice]

I'd say the current world is mixture of both, the parallel world and the old town. [Akechi takes a long sip from his coffee. He's not bothered by these questions questions at all, in fact, he's glad to share some of the information he's gathered, but oh boy... It sure is a lot.]

Before I answer your question I'd like to know how long you have been here. It's a rather long story you see.

[incorrigibles]

Huh, [ charles says, jotting down a few lines about that. ]

Oh, um, little less than two months now. [ he gives a little shrug, then, almost sheepish. ] I know it's not long, I've heard people have been here for over a year.

[murderingjustice]

One year and half this month. [He nods and raises his thermos in a mock-toast. But oh dearie, that does leave a quite lot to cover here.]

Can't say I have seen anyone attentive enough to actually take notes, aside from Miss Kiramman. Are you an aspiring journalist, maybe?

[incorrigibles]

Year and a half?! Jesus. [ that's.... not very reassuring. or, well, it is in the sense that this guy is probably his best bet for information, then, but otherwise... sure, he hadn't really entertained any escape plans, but this is the first time he's also so bluntly faced with the idea he might be here for years. and though there's good parts to being here, it's still... a lot. ]

Oh, no, [ he shakes his head and grins. ] I'm a detective.

[murderingjustice]

Yes, it seems like this place is really fond of me. [Something that Akechi had a complicated relationship with. At first he had wanted nothing more than to unravel the mystery behind this world and escape the captivity, to defy a force that had brought him back from dead to play yet another game.

But within a year and half.. a lot had happened. And it would be lying to say that he didn't feel conflicted about the idea of returning. He had something to lose now.]

Hah, that so? [He hums approvingly and reaches out his left hand for a shake.] My name is Goro Akechi, it seems like we share occupation.

[incorrigibles]

[ charles gives him a commiserating smile that then brightens, immediately, when akechi holds out his left hand — because, hey, cool, people usually hold their right, and charles has trained himself to do it on instinct, too, but a leftie's a leftie!

so he grips his hand tight, and for once, his touch feels like any other human, instead of too-cold, fainter than a real touch, all at once there and not. ] Whoa, no kidding? Mate, that's aces! I'm Charles Rowland, one half of the Dead Boy Detective Agency.

[murderingjustice]

[Akechi's own grip is firm and brief. Being a left-handed means that Akechi has taught himself to be ambidextrous, capable of to use his non-dominant hand just as well as his dominant. But in moments like these when he gets to make the first move he prefers to use his left hand, which is usually always answered in kind.

He raises an amused brow at the introduction.]

Dead Boy Detective Agency? Can't say I've heard of such before. [Dude, your own title is Detective Prince. You have no room to speak.]

[incorrigibles]

Well, [ charles shrugs with a grin, ] Unless you're dead, you probably wouldn't have. Given that we solve cases for ghosts.

[ ... yeah. he's just, you know, going to say that. and maybe that somehow explains him walking into the tree, now, and commenting on the smell of coffee — ]

[murderingjustice]

[..Huh, well. How about that, Akechi raises a curious brow and looks Charles up and down, almost as if to evaluate him. That sure would explain it, along with this weird behavior he was showcasing priory.]

Yes, that would do it. In my world people stay dead and do not come back even as ghosts, [Akechi sips from his coffee. Stop thirsting after it, dude.] usually, that is.

[incorrigibles]

Hm, you sound pretty sure of that.

[ which — well, one might be sure... or might not. hard to know ghosts exist until you've become one, yourself. ] Might be that they're there and you just haven't seen them. But... might not, too. I guess there's plenty of different worlds out there.