milliways_bar | (no subject)

The Milliways Security force has gone to impressive lengths to preserve the scene of the crime without starting a panic. Their efforts are commendable!

And really, there was nothing they could do about the window of time between the discovery of the body and Security's response, when a thirteen-year-old girl, storming out of her greenhouse in a huff, might stumble across an unpleasant scene . . .

And then spend the next good while being unpleasantly and embarrassingly sick in the bushes, and another period of time cleaning herself off, before marching straight-backed into the bar and announcing in a voice that is not quiet: "I have found a body in pieces out back. I did not kill it, but somebody did!"

[OOC: OK, guys . . . the free-for-all is open. :D Bear in mind that the scene of the crime itself is still warded, and anyone who tries to approach will get a shock! But feel free to react to the news here, to thread conversations reacting to the news, etc. - the post is open indefinitely.]

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Peter looks up, eyes wide and mouth full.

"With a gun?"

(It comes out sounding something like: Whugguga?)

Elle looks over her shoulder at the girl.

There's no particular reaction. She seems to examine Mary for a moment, maybe to assess her latter claim.

And then, she shrugs one shoulder, and turns away again. This place might have rules, but Elle still might not get that there are other reactions to such an announcement.

"Perhaps," Mary says, coolly.

"It was difficult to tell. Much of him had been eaten. But he may have been killed with a gun first."

Her voice is very flat and she is doing her very best to project a matter-of-fact air.

Mary catches the woman staring at her, and makes note of her face, as a Good Detective ought to do. She didn't seem surprised by the news.

Cameron glances in Mary's direction, and then back at her homework, in order to calculate the length of the hypotenuse.

Tom hears this announcement just as he set down his empty glass to head back to the House of Arch. He will be delayed, clearly.

"Mary, are you quite alright?"

"Oh," Mary says, drawing herself up higher, "I am perfectly well."

The body was - all right, it was a bit of a shock, and Mary's abstract knowledge of anatomy had not quite translated into physical information in that way before.

But at least no one had been about, to see her embarrassing reaction - and the benefit was that it would not happen again, now she would be braced for it.

"But I thought people ought to be informed."

He looks her over. She looks well enough, if somewhat harried.

"Good. You've done the right thing. Security should handle this."

He will find out what he can from one of them, and not a teen-aged girl, no matter how brave she is. Then, because he is English...

"Would you like a cup of tea?"

"It is meant to be their job."

Mary's voice conveys clearly that she is not at all sure how effective they will be, but concedes that they ought to have the right to try.

"I think - I might," she says, and follows it up quickly with, "I have been working hard in my garden, you see."

It's certainly not that she's rattled at all. She's merely thirsty - that';s all.

He orders a whole pot and two cups. He thinks he might need some himself.

"Of course you have. Is it coming along well?"

Distraction might be a good idea at this point.

"No," Mary says, her face setting into a scowl.

This is not a subject guaranteed to make her more cheerful.

"People keep coming in and trampling it! A horrible little man came in today and deliberately kicked over my flowerpots!"

She brightens, a little. "Perhaps he killed the body. They would not punish him for murdering my flowers, but they would for murdering a person."

He looks up quickly as he pours.

"Did you recognize him? This little man?"

"I had met him before," Mary says, neglecting to mention the shin-kicking, "but we were not introduced."

Mary's voice is always precise, but it slides an unintentional notch over into public-school primness, here.

He nods. "Tell Security about him, as well, when you speak with someone. As for your greenhouse, perhaps I might help you in regards to the trampling. There are all manner of charms that can keep things upright and unmolested."

There's no need for Mary to be distressed by overturned pots.

"Of course I shall." Mary knows she needs to provide precise information to the authorities! It is the most important tool in solving a crime.

"Is there a charm to do things to the people who molest them?" she mutters.

THEY DESERVE IT.

Tom grins. Jinxes are a mild-mannered form of hexes, but they can be just as fun.

"We could figure something out. How about if the offenders broke out in large purple spots upon attempting anything? They would be harmless, but mark them immediately."

Plotting mostly harmless jinxes may keep Mary distracted from thinking about what she saw. Tom will run with this.