[center][hider=Credit]This post written in collaboration with [@Redward].[/hider]

[color=BC8F8F][i]'Corpse' is such an ugly word. Eufi and Dave aren't corpses. They aren't cadavers. They aren't husks. They're at peace, at rest. Even now, they're together. Torn apart for only a second. They didn't suffer.[/i][/color]

 The quiet young man took distant offense at his companion's methods. He rarely brought it up, but the blood made him uncomfortable; unhappy. Still, this was something he had to think about. Something he had to fully analyze. [color=BC8F8F][i]Fifteen corpses,[/i][/color] rolling the word through his mind again made him feel dirty, [color=BC8F8F][i]but only fourteen...[/i][/color] It didn't make sense. Something in him couldn't reconcile the miscalculation. While their methods differed, the quiet young man and his friend were thorough. There had never been something of this nature to worry about. It ate away at him until they reached their destination, keeping him largely in the grip of silence.

 The diner, [i]Hands On[/i], was a small but somewhat reputable place; known to remain open all hours of the day. It wasn't pricy, and it wasn't particularly good, but the quiet young man had found through the years that few prying ears existed within its confines. Indeed, the patrons would more often than not place themselves well away from one another; when night bit down on Lightbridge. He had chosen their seat without asking the dapper lad, sitting in a corner; his gaze fixed on the world outside, through the film of fog that had formed on the window. 

 Their server had come and gone, a dark-haired girl that had tired features despite her age. She was polite enough, but the quiet young man could see that her mind was far away. [color=BC8F8F][i]She's pretty. I wonder if she has a vacation coming up. Looks like she could use it.[/i][/color] He had ordered a simple meal. Eggs, bacon and two pancakes. It was his 'usual' for [i]Hands On[/i] and one of the only things he could legitimately enjoy from the place. [color=BC8F8F][i]Water,[/i][/color] he had said, [color=BC8F8F][i]instead of coffee.[/i][/color] Coffee was too bitter, even when drowned in cream and made into sludge by sugar. The taste wouldn't leave his mouth for an uncomfortably long time. 

He watched her, as she trudged along, wondering what was going on inside her head. [color=BC8F8F][i]Probably nothing important, but I want to know.[/i][/color] A part of him nudged the budding thoughts aside. She was nothing special, it told him. Nothing to concern himself over. There were larger issues at hand. 

[color=BC8F8F][i]It worked out. The facets are filled, now. Tonight wasn't the night, anyway. Not with...[/i][/color]

He didn't waste any time, once she disappeared. His eyes drifted back to his companion, their cast something unreadable to most. The quiet young man was quite serious. Troubled, perhaps. This was not something that either of them had accounted for. 

[color=BC8F8F]"Maybe your watch is broken? Cracked?"[/color] He didn't think it entirely sensible, given what he had come to learn of their 'weapons', but it wouldn't hurt to ask. [color=BC8F8F]"What happened, exactly? I want you to tell me [i]everything[/i] about that [i]missing one[/i]."[/color]

The dapper young lad perched upon his seat across from his quiet young companion with all the presence of a gargoyle, his elbows propped upon the sleek yet drab surface of the table, his index fingers supporting his sharp chin above his narrow, clasped hands. He'd not argued the choice of eatery, as much as he absolutely loathed this sort of "cuisine;" it did, after all, afford a few rather palatable tactical bonuses for people such as themselves carrying on a conversation such as the one they were getting underway. He'd waited patiently for the quiet young patron to order, and had simply signaled to the waitress that he'd have the same.

He almost let himself get caught starting right into the other's eyes, studying him intently as he watched the waitress recede. He knew, deep down, that the silence itself couldn't hide the disquiet writ upon his companion's mind as they'd waited to discuss what, exactly, the [i][color=dodgerblue]'shitting fuck'[/color][/i] had taken place. As the tenuous question was finally posed him, he closed his eyes and let out a long-suffering sigh. He [i]really[/i] didn't want to deliver this news. Before speaking, he unclasped his hands and, parting his coat's breast with one, reached within to retrieve the incontrovertible evidence of his near-failure. He tapped the corner of the thin, laminated plastic card upon the table three times in quick succession, before sliding it unceremoniously across to skitter to a halt - in perfect orientation to be read - before his friend.

[color=dodgerblue]"Well, this particular would-be Eufi was my fourteenth collection,"[/color] he began quietly, his brows furrowing tightly above eyes so tightly closed as to furrow his temples with crow's tracks. [color=dodgerblue]"Or at least, she was supposed to be."[/color]

He waited for the quiet young man to pick up and examine the identification card before continuing.

[color=dodgerblue]"She was an... uneventful encounter, at first. I took her quickly, silently, efficiently... I don't think she even felt any pain.  You would have rather liked her; she seemed... sublimely innocent, in a nigh-bovine sense."[/color] Any other day, he would have allowed himself a slight chuckle at his own sense of humour. Opening his eyes and turning an unfocused, silvery gaze to the night beyond the nearby windowpane, he took in a breath and continued, perching his chin now upon his right palm while his left produced his pocketwatch, absently turning it over and round in his nimble fingers in a practiced flurry... another absentminded behaviour he'd adopted along with his molar-grinding in order to avert his own stress.

[color=dodgerblue]"I placed my hand upon the right side of her head, covering her ear - she hadn't noticed the silence on my approach, I mean, my methodology was not at fault - and within three seconds, the hypersonic polyhedra had split her dura and pia mater, sliced several cranial arteries, and broke the covalent bonds between the atoms of her brain-stem. She died rather neatly, compared to that bloody student in the alley."[/color] Here he paused and clenched his watch tightly, bringing his other fist down upon the table. The sudden sound startled even him; he'd forgotten, in his introversion, that the silence was without him at this moment. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat, glancing around at a couple other patrons who'd turned annoyed, quizzical glances in his direction at the outburst. They all immediately went back to their own banal existences, without any protest, and he took a deep, grounding breath before turning to fully face his quiet young partner in murder. Before he continued, his face seemed to melt into a softer, almost apologetic expression. He opened his mouth to speak, a hard "d" consonant escaping his lips before he caught himself, and continued, barely above a whisper.

[color=dodgerblue]"I promise you, everything went absolutely par for the bloody course, but... she..."[/color] He fidgeted in his seat in a display of extreme internal conflict, likely to the annoyance of his only friend, before mentally urging himself to just spit it out. He knew his next statement would not sit well with the quiet younger man; the very thought of it [i]still[/i] didn't sit well within his own mind.

[color=dodgerblue]"This Euf- no. This [i]non-Eufi,"[/i][/color] he spat, as though denying her the pseudonym was a slight against her for fouling up their plans, [color=dodgerblue]"She was just... she died, and no soul filled the fourteenth facet on my watch. The vapid wench was bloody [i]empty[/i], I tell you!"[/color] He took another brief breath to ground himself once more, and continued quietly, his eyes downcast, staring through the table top to some distant nowhere.

[color=dodgerblue]"I thought I'd failed myself, the others... and worse? Failed, well... you..."[/color]

He let these final few words hang on the air, his face an open mix of confusion, frustration, annoyance, and, though only the very person sitting across from him could ever identify it, a great deal of fear.

[color=BC8F8F][i]I don't want to talk about Eufi, right now.[/i][/color]

 They had met gazes, for a moment; before the card came sliding across the table, stopping perfectly before him. It made no noise as he slid it from the table and into his palm, held low against his lap, the quiet young man tracing the girls' features. His companion told of the girl's demise, and of her innocence. [color=BC8F8F][i]I can see it,[/i][/color] he told himself, tracing a finger across the curl of her lips, [color=BC8F8F][i]she was happy. Maybe stupid, but happy. I bet she was alone.[/i][/color] His chest tightened, and he removed his fingers from the ID; taking a moment to cover it with the edge of his jacket, in case the waitress were to return. [color=BC8F8F][i]She didn't even get a proper talking to, before going. Just...silence. Surprise.[/i][/color]

 He listened, lifting his gaze slightly, his strange displeasure veiled behind the usual wall; watching as a pocketwatch was produced and played with. As his companion's grip tightened. [color=BC8F8F][i]I would be worried, too.[/i][/color] The quiet young man wouldn't fault his friend for his methods, despite the earlier unseemly display; and even smiled, slightly, when the debacle was mentioned. [color=BC8F8F][i]That's a haste-job, though. He would've been neater, if we hadn't run into a problem. I'll let it go. Besides, that guy's already dead.[/i][/color] His friend was precise, and professional; much as the quiet young man considered himself to be. His friend was also nervous. The sound of his fist hitting the table had resounded throughout [i]Hands On[/i], and the quiet young man turned; but not to meet the gaze of the patrons.

 Instead, he was looking for the waitress. His hand moved slightly, in its place on his knee, taking the ID card back up; hiding it against his hip, much as he did with his blade. The use of Eufi's name, again. The fidgeting. His mind started to drift, but the tension in his chest throbbed with disgust at revisiting that painful memory and brought him back to the table. He let it slide, bringing his hand to the table. It was then his companion began to say something, a very familiar sound quickly cut-off. He smiled, bringing his free hand up.

 [color=BC8F8F][i]Not here,[/i][/color] was the unspoken caution. His friend continued, and he listened until he was through.

 [color=BC8F8F]"Stop. It's not your fault,"[/color] the quiet young man let his gentle smile reinforce the words, hoping to draw his companion [color=BC8F8F]"we both know that they wouldn't blame you."[/color] It wasn't entirely true, the quiet young man knew well that at least [i]one[/i] of them would have thrown a tantrum. [color=BC8F8F]"And me? I don't see how you could fail me. It's not like we've lost, or that we can't progress. It's weird when you talk, like that, you know? Beatrix Ashworth,"[/color] he looked more pointedly at the ID, then back to his friend, [color=BC8F8F]"is a strange thing, but not one we should be worried about. In the worst case, she was a 'doll', which would mean someone could be watching us,"[/color] the quiet young man reclined, a little, draping his arm over the back of the booth. 

[color=BC8F8F][i]She looks like a doll, with those eyes, that's for sure. And tall, too. I wonder what she was really like...[/i][/color] He could imagine her smiling, and for some reason, running. Again, the sharpening of pressure in his chest. A return from flights of fantasy. Disappointment. He shifted, bringing a hand up to his cheek and leaning against it.

 [color=BC8F8F]"Best case she was just 'empty', like you said. Not many other reasons I can come up with, that'd keep your watch from functioning."[/color] Several terms came to mind, though, passed down from missed mouths. [color=BC8F8F]"I'm not sure what we should do, if anything, about her."[/color] She was, after all, from what he had heard, quite dead. [color=BC8F8F]"For now, we're set and ready to move forward."[/color]

 True, it was disconcerting to him that a human shell had been walking around. Something without a soul could be dangerous, or nothing at all. He didn't much like that things had gone awry, but they weren't far from the path they'd predicted.[/center]