Ryslig IC Inbox

[inseine]

WELCOME TO YOUR PRIVATE CHANNEL, PasUnPolicier. FOR SECURE COMMUNICATION, USE 246.01.094.30 *** PasUnPolicier has joined 246.01.094.30 <PasUnPolicier> This mail centre belongs to Javert. <PasUnPolicier> Be accurate and brief. <PasUnPolicier> I suggest you not test my patience with practical jokes and clowning around. <PasUnPolicier> I will return your notice shortly.

Comments

<PasUnPolicier>

[inseine]

Give it here. I will go myself.

[justbeingknife]

Wouldn't that be, say

a giant honking breach of confidentiality?

<PasUnPolicier>

[inseine]

The address, please. Or I shall spend the rest of my day interviewing every man, woman, and child where he was last spotted, and sniff him out without you.

[justbeingknife]

We'll both go. Meet me, and please don't sniff people in the meantime.

[ there's your address, Javert. ]

<PasUnPolicier>

[inseine]

I know this address.

I am leaving now. Don't delay yourself.

[justbeingknife]

Don't worry, I'm the fastest wolf in the west.

[ Majima would show up as promised, arriving by dark-colored car just outside. When he shut the door, the vehicle drove off, leaving him sampling the air for the sort of scents and sounds that might provide some clue as to Valjean's whereabouts. ]

ACTION

[inseine]

[Javert is already in an animated conversation with the portress (read: receptionist lady) of the apartment complex, questioning her gruffly about the presence of a white-haired old bear and when she had last seen him. The results of the interview are not optimistic, judging by the fierce look of misery and frustration on Javert's face. He dismisses her the instant he sees Majima, and approaches him briskly.

Perhaps the man is different than the last time they met. He is a vampire and not an angel, for instance. The familiar air of reservation, abruptness, and melancholy lingers about his head. He holds his head just a touch lower than the Nephilim, he clasps his hands at his back rather than across his chest, and wrinkles of exhaustion line his terse face.]

No one has seen him in over 24 hours. [He looks to the entrance. His fists tighten at his back, his mouth curving into a hollow smirk. He nearly laughs.]

I do not have a standing invitation to his flat.

I'm assuming they're still outside, wasn't sure

[justbeingknife]

Oh? Did ya insult his tea?

[ He tilted his head in the direction of the retreating woman. ]

And does that mean you can't get into the buildin', or just the apartment? I don't know how all the invitations work.

[ Could one hypnotize someone into giving permission? Surely if it was possible, Javert would have already done it. ]

YES, they are, I'm sorry! Good guess!

[inseine]

The building is no trouble. His flat is less simple.

[Javert sniffs, his head bending to the ground. His glance fixates on a spot just beyond the tip of his nose.]

You must go in for me. I would not demand an invitation from him. It is his right to shut me out.

:|b

[justbeingknife]

[ Really Javert

REALLY JAVERT ]

...so under normal circumstances, ya wouldn't be asking someone else to rummage through his apartment, right?

[ Not that this was, apparently, going to stop the werewolf from doing it. ]

Did you finagle a key off of the receptionist?

[ Majima was heading up and into the apartment building's foyer, but look, this was important. He needed to know if he was going to have to add B&E to this whole sketchy wellness check. ]

[inseine]

[Javert shoots Majima a look -- we all know that look. Who do you think he is? A common thief? A burglar? He draws the key out of his pocket and tosses it to Majima to catch.

Don't ask him how he finagled it. Better that Majima doesn't know.]

It is a wellness check, not a burglary. [He adds dryly,] You might try knocking first. I will follow and stay at the door.

[justbeingknife]

[ That was not an answer. At least, not a satisfactory one. Go figure. ]

I will. But let's not kid ourselves.

[ They wouldn't be here if odds favored Valjean and a sudden urge to play hooky. Once they were at the door, Majima raised his hand to rap neatly at the door. He listened.

And then he unlocked the door, swinging it silently open. ]

[inseine]

[Javert isn't kidding himself, judging by the careful, tight, blank expression on his face. What he wants is confirmation of his anxieties: That someone interfered, that perhaps one of his enemies discovered Valjean before he could pick up his scent again... or something worse. He waits just outside the threshold when Majima makes his way in.

Inside, the basement apartment is a wreck. Furniture is overturned, a chair lies on its side, leg broken. Shelves are in disarray. There are obvious signs of quite a struggle by the 'harmless old man.' And amongst the wreckage, Majima will be able to find the one solid clue the culprits left behind:

A syringe cap, just like the syringes the poachers used against monsters during their coordinated kidnappings and attacks in mid-November.]

[justbeingknife]

[ Impressive, really. A fight without the savaging of every piece of liftable furniture in the room could not truly be said to be a fight at all. The smell of fear and sweat, the splintering of wood. What he saw that was outside of Javert's field of vision, he called out.

And then, carefully, he removed a handkerchief from his pocket and picked up the syringe cap, returning to the door. ]

Here.

[ SORRY ABOUT YOUR OLD MAN, OLD MAN ]

[inseine]

[Javert regards Majima without a speck of emotion in his eyes. He takes the handkerchief and carefully unwraps it. There is a moment of silence; he raises the cap beneath his nose and gives it a quick sniff, like a bloodhound.

The expression on his face drops indescribably. In truth, it is a subtle thing: a faint slackening of his lips here, a hollowing of the cheeks there, the emergence of deep dark rings beneath his eyes and the smoothing of all but the deepest of lines in his brow. His eyes are dull enough to swallow, rather than reflect the light.

All at once, he springs out of stillness, hurriedly wrapping the cap back up and burying it in his deepest pocket. His lower lip curls into a bulldoggish pout, fangs glinting hungrily. He readjusts his hat, drawing the brim low over his face. Apparently he is making ready to go.]

Thank you, Majima. That is all.

[justbeingknife]

[ That was weird? But pretty much par for the course for Javert, so Majima simply shut and locked the door, giving the key an absentminded toss before catching it. ]

Uh huh. I'll give the key back.

END

[inseine]

[Javert glances to Majima absently, not a flicker of emotion on his face.]

See that you do. [Toneless. Dull. Dead.] There is work to be done. I'll send word if I discover more. Good night to you.

[He heads for the exit. Then heads past the exit toward the nearest hall-window, where he instead melts into his batty shape and flaps off into the night.]