02 / video - WARNINGS FOR GORE, and Lucifer not giving any warnings for gore

[dissemble]

Now before I say anything, I want to remind you all not to shoot the messenger.

[Yes, Wonderland, the angel of light is still amongst you- and is making a rare video appearance on the network. Reasons for this will soon become apparent.]

Dean and I never saw eye to eye, but really-

[He pans the camera around as he speaks and...

Squeamish viewers will want to look away.

Apparently what is on your screen is Dean Winchester. It may be hard to tell, unless you are intimately acquainted with his internal organs.

There is a body strapped upright to a mirror in the ballroom, buck-ass nude and with all its inner parts on display. (ooc: that second link is to a drawing of a pig dissected.) The body has been carefully dissected, and the organs carefully pinned in place so that nothing will fall out. Well. Not all of organs, if you look closely. There's a small gap where the spleen should be.

Others have been relocated. The body is eyeless (they're on a chair in front of Dean) and thumbless (they're down the throat). The lack of blood indicates that someone has taken the time to drain Dean of all blood before setting him up here.

Lucifer doesn't seem to mind sharing all this with the network without a warning. One part of a human is the same as another, right?

Instead of sounding pleased - as one might expect from a being who would like to end all humans - his voice sounds resigned.] I suppose this is humanity for you.

Comments

[glumshoe]

[ That's a specific answer to an unspecific question. Blake quietly confirms that the stranger was alone when the body was found, but the sick, false tremor hitting softly off the back of Will's mind is disquieting. The stranger is disquieting. And telling the truth, as far as Will can tell, but evasive in a vein that hasn't risen to the surface yet. It seems Will needs to tap a little more. ]

No, but someone did. [ If it was someone who came before the stranger why did they leave and not address the network, for one. Running on the assumption that this wasn't the case, ]

You were alone when you found him, but what about after?

[dissemble]

I was alone then too.

[It was the truth. Lucifer had inspected Dean's corpse alone, and then he had waited alone for some time before anyone else had arrived. He gives Will an honest look-

and if Will meets his eyes he will find genuine honesty projected there. No point distracting Will with details outside of Dean's murder.]

[oversight]

[ The back-and-forth draws John's attention, but the whole while he's focused on Winchester (or maybe just past him, because he's having enough trouble focusing as it is).

Where's the real scene of the crime? Who saw to that scene? What happened to the blood that used to be pumping through the hunter's veins? Why the eyes? Why the thumbs? And why would anyone tamper with the body?

The questions rattle around in the former cop's head like the first few coins in the piggy bank, too loud to ignore, so loud he actually expects the others to overhear. He's surprisingly vacant otherwise, purposefully avoiding too many fond memories, purposefully doing all he can to attend to the task at hand. ]

We're goin' in circles. [ Just his impression. ] Someone else was here. [ Period. End of story. ]

What sorta reason would anyone have to remove the— the thumbs? [ Suppressing his urge to walk around Wonderland and shake everyone he sees, Blake presses forward and crouches nearer to Dean's body, inspecting his hands and the floor around the display. ] Those are— they're severed post-mortem? Not here, though, not unless someone left the dough and took the bolt cutters, or whatever.

[ He shudders out a breath. ] —but it's a clean cut. Scalpel, maybe.

[glumshoe]

[ So intent on staring their third wheel down with mounting distrust in the face of perfectly rational answers that Blake's interjection is what jerks him back onto the main road. The dissatisfaction shows on Will's face, but it's a subject he can leave open in order to address Blake's worry, glancing over at the grief slowly treading Blake thin. ]

Yes. [ Not point in leaving it unconfirmed. This is why the questioning should press on, he wants to add, but getting the stranger to answer the question being asked in the spirit that it is being asked is evidently too much to ask. Will circles around to the pillow, scrutinizing the thumbs and the body. ]

He was drained elsewhere. Dissection and mounting post-mortem, as far as I can tell without a lab team. [ Pulling on a set of gloves, he tosses Blake a pair and brings the right thumb to the appropriate hand, turning it to compare, check for any loose skin tags that weren't taken on the severing, but - ]

It was done in one pass. A scalpel couldn't get through bone, and bolt cutters would pinch the skin in a distinct pattern. This was a knife. Heavy duty, sharp, likely the same one that was used to split open the chest and abdominal cavity.

[ But why the thumbs? What isn't he seeing? ]

[oversight]

[ Pulling on the gloves, he silently listens to Graham's assessment, nodding slowly as he lets the suggestions settle. For too long, he stares blankly at the latex and tells himself he doesn't have to touch anything if he doesn't want to, but Wonderland be damned if he's going to be rendered useless by his own issues. ]

Somethin' like a machete's not gonna be small enough or— or accurate enough, right? And that just— that definitely means the dough's outta place. [ It's not just a coincidence.

Blake finally lifts his gaze to inspect those carefully suspended organs, his mouth deeply downturned. He feels as scrutinized as Dean at the moment, but tries to remind himself there are more important concerns nearby. ]

Precise, like the others. 'Cept where someone's tampered... [ In his mind, that includes the thumbs. No one takes care to position everything so exactly, but leaves the thumbs haphazardly askew. ]

What's the message? Or the— the demand? Reflection? Repentance?

[glumshoe]

[ Will's attention is jerked to the dough, a quiet look of discontent etching into his face. To him, there's every certainty that this is not part of the design, as John pointed out. His mouth thins. ]

Someone else was here. [ he says aloud, just to make it perfectly clear that their spare member of the investigation team has only been reiterating a version of the truth that suits his agenda, not the interest of justice. Any minute positioning against players like him, who bore too many similarities to Hannibal for comfort, is worth the effort to engender the doubt and distrust.

The dough reminds him of two people, one of which was certainly here. The other, Will will have to follow up on soon. ]

Repentance is too merciful. [ The brutality of the scene doesn't include the possibility of correction of whatever led to the display. Will's boot drags against the slick floor, gravel and dust too loud in their ears as he comes to a stop in front and takes off his glasses, placing them inside his jacket's inner pocket. ]

Can I get a minute?

[oversight]

[ Honestly, Blake's uncertain what getting a minute means in this case, but from all the context clues, it appears to him as Graham's way of asking to be alone. Strange, but not unheard of.

Nodding, he lets out a thin breathe and turns, gesturing to Lucifer to head for the door as he does the same. ]

See if I can't find out more while you're at it. Gimme a ring when you're ready for... comp'ny.

[ Besides, Blake will be better off if he can separate himself from Winchester's corpse for just a couple minutes. Regrouping never hurts. ]