much ado about MURDER (open!)

[AIDEN MORALES]

Amid the sound of the noisy mall, Aiden Morales listened intently. A synthetic voice came through his ear phones reading off the police report for a murder. Not just any murder - the seventh undocumented murder in the past four months. The seventh murder of a supposed serial killer, running rampant. The homicides were just too similar, from the report, to be random.

Seven murders.

Originally, it was thought that an animal was on the loose, due to the ragged lacerations found on the bodies and the missing limbs of the victims, but the timing and locations of the killings cried out murder.

Tragic as it may be, it was a good story, and Aiden had the feeling that it was important, very important.

He paused from the report to stretch his back, leaning back in his chair. As he stretched his arms, Aiden felt his hand hit someone.

"My apologies." he said quickly, drawing his arm in and looking in the direction of the person. In the tumultuous noises of the mall, Aiden could hardly pick out the person he hit, let alone any one else in the crowd. Whoever it was evidently moved on, for there was no response.

Manners, evidently, were a waste of time.

[RORY O'CONNELL]

Okay, perhaps the mall was the wrong place to do it, but he had gottenthe urge to kill and hey! Why waste the opportunity! He was frankly a bit ecstatic at the time just to have the murderous instinct back after such a long dry spell of disgustingly human lack of appetite for flesh.

It had all happened very quickly anyway. A Very spur of the moment event that had taken so little time to complete it was almost inconsequential. he was lucky that it had just happened to be in a bathroom where the creepily omnipresent cameras were absent. Also, attacking at night when there were relatively few people around was always a plus.

It was really just shear luck that he had kept from getting caught in the first place, so really, wasn't it tempting the hand of fate that he was back in the same mall only a day later, eating in the food court? Of course, this "Chinese Food" that they were passing off as edible meat was far from the same as the delicious meal of human meat he had dined on the night before, but it was enough. He was getting an adrenaline thrill just from being in the same area, seeing the frightened little humans rushing around the bathroom, attempting to figure out exactly HOW a body could get that disfigured.

Something bumped into him from behind. Cautiously turning his head, he saw a hand quickly being withdrawn, accompanied with some sort of muffled apology.

On any other day he would have just turned back around and silently cursed the fool for disrupting his day, but today he was feeling playful, reckless, and he could just hear over the din of the crowd some sort of communication through those ear-pieces that was apparently centered around the murder.

Always the conceited lion he was raised to be, he couldn't resist talking about himself when the opportunity arose. Turning his chair around, he positioned himself at the careless man's table.

"Tragic happening, isn't it? The murders? It shouldn't happen nowadays. We're MUCH more civilized than this. We shouldn't have to be exposed to such brutal, diabolical, EVIL attacks."

Oh, he DID love to play the part of a concerned human.

[AIDEN MORALES]

"Tragic happening, isn't it? The murders? It shouldn't happen nowadays. We're MUCH more civilized than this. We shouldn't have to be exposed to such brutal, diabolical, EVIL attacks."

Aiden cocked his head toward the man's voice as he spoke. Undoubtably, the man was probably looking around in sheer disbelief or gazing at Aiden with a concerned expression. That was the one thing that was beneficial about being blind - you're forced to learn other ways of picking up on attitudes and emotions. This man, concerned as he may have looked, was indifferent to the murders, verging on pleased. The emphasis was in all the wrong places, and the context clues poked at Aiden's mind.

"Yes, but all we can do is wait for the police to solve it." Aiden hesitated for a moment, a familiar feeling in the back of his mind prickling at him. There was something more to this man. Shrugging off the feeling, Aiden held out his hand in the direction of the voice, speaking confidently. "My name is Aiden. May I ask who I am speaking to?"

Aiden knew what was wrong. It laid in the context of what the man said, like a lion hiding in the grass. The murders. The six deaths, up until this one, had all been released to the press as animal attacks. So what did the man know about the murders?

[RORY O'CONNELL]

Rory got a good look at the person who had been so insensitive as to poke him for the first time. Well, as good of a look as one can get when said person is wearing large sunglasses. Indoors. Rory still couldn't understand the quirky ways of some of these humans nowadays. he could admit that the fluorescent light was a tad bit grating, but dark lenses were hardly called for.

"Yes, but all we can do is wait for the police to solve it."

Right, the man was talking. Rory almost forgot. Mustn't get distracted by the man's horrid fashion choices. To each their own and tartarus, who was he to judge? If it managed to become a fad, so much the better. It would make for prey walking around at night with their vision even more obscured by black lenses in the enveloping darkness.

Rory's thoughts were interrupted not by the other person talking, but by the revelation that the person WASN'T talking. Oh my, he had managed to stumble upon perhaps the one human that wasn't a gabby chatterbox like all the others, someone as pensive as himself.

He didn't know whether to be frightened or merely intrigued by that.

"My name is Aiden. May I ask who I am speaking to?"

Oh, there it was. The second real statement. Rory was impressed. Every word was carefully calculated, politeness was imperative in every statement.

He was liking this one. Perhaps he could use him to his advantage. He had noted an extreme value set on friendship in this day and age, and he figured he couldn't go around much longer without any human companions lest he look like the dreaded [i[creeper

[/i] a term he had used widely to denounce people of his caliber.

He needed this man to make his disguise complete.

"Rory O'Connell, concerned citizen, at your service. And not to be overly rude, but don't you think that that's thinking a bit too much of our police? It seems that this, this SHREWD madman is a step above the local cops' level."

Rory felt rather good about himself. He had chosen his words wisely, and felt safe in his politeness. Hell, he had even secretly thrown in a compliment there for himself in the process. Now he just had to take this whole friend thing a step further. There had to be a logical process to this that he could follow. He had been polite, now he had to do something nice for the man. It was so obvious.

Of course, Rory was rather at a loss for what to do. he didn't exactly want to toss around too much cash for this man's friendship. Working at a coffee shop left Rory rather strapped for cas- Oh, that was something. By the looks of it, the man was out of coffee. That could be easily remedied. Rory knew coffee.

It looks like you're just about of coffee. I'll grab some more for you, all right?"[/blockquote]

[AIDEN MORALES]

"Rory O'Connell, concerned citizen, at your service. And not to be overly rude, but don't you think that that's thinking a bit too much of our police? It seems that this, this SHREWD madman is a step above the local cops' level."

Again, Aiden noticed that Mr. O'Connell emphasized all of the wrong words. Shrewd, implying calculated, certainly defined the complexity of the murders, but the method? A calculating killer would not likely tear his victims apart in a public place. It risked too much - getting blood on the clothing, fingerprints, footprints, debris - which were all traceable elements back to the crime. A madman, as Mr. O'Connell had said, might do this. Only a monster could do such a thing, but could there be a cold, calculating monster who was a step ahead of the cops everytime?

"It looks like you're just about of coffee. I'll grab some more for you, all right?" Mr. O'Connell was offering to get Aiden some more coffee. It was odd that a perfect stranger would do that for him, but perhaps they were conscious of his "handicap."

"Yes, thank you very much." Aiden replied, scowling a little. He did not appreciate being looked down upon, but without seeing Mr. O'Connell, there was no telling pity from pure kindness.

As Mr. O'Connell left the table, Aiden tried to judge his physical characteristics. Light footfalls indicated nimbleness and a small body, but the sound of the man's voice seemed to hint at a larger bulk. Perhaps he was an athlete, a gymnist even, but once again Aiden's eyes cursed him and there were no definite answers.

Upon Mr. O'Connell's return, Aiden made a simple statement, beginning a time-old game of the mind.

"The press release said the first six were animal attacks and were not related to this attack, but you said that they were murders, Mr. O'Connell."

Check. Now for mate.