Case #8: Video

[19centconstable]

[George is COMPLETELY DRESSED. So dressed. He also looks slightly pink and wrinkly, like he's spent too long in the bathtub.]

I've been in the tub.

[For two days, apparently. And still so unclean. His hair is also not parted and slicked down as usual, and is currently making a sort of wild, fluffy, dark halo around his face. The ends curl a bit. George's hair may eat combs. George is too sulky to do anything about it. This flood has tested even his unwavering positivity.]

I want to apologize for...

...

...everything.

[A curt nod, and the camera is switched off.]

...

[Then switched back on again.]

I would just like to say, also, just so you know, that I am never...unclothed, not even underneath my clothes.

...I'm getting back in the tub.

[The camera is switched off.]

...

[Aaaaaaand switched on again. He's here, he might as well. George clears his throat.]

Who...does...the art?

Comments

Re: private

[kingfor-aday.livejournal.com]

There's usually a good reason behind a stupid costume.

Unless you are the pagans in the ritual.

Re: private

[19centconstable.livejournal.com]

Well they're doing a ritual, aren't they?

Re: private

[kingfor-aday.livejournal.com]

Mm. [someone sounds unenthused.]

Re: private

[19centconstable.livejournal.com]

And it's not a proper ritual if you're not wearing an outfit.

Re: private

[kingfor-aday.livejournal.com]

Because we all have to wear costumes to murder. It's the done thing.

[can you hear the bitter?]

Re: private

[19centconstable.livejournal.com]

Rituals aren't strictly about murder, now.

Re: private

[kingfor-aday.livejournal.com]

They still were in 1973.

And, by the looks of things, 2006.

Maybe I just got the wrong sort of ritual.

Re: private

[19centconstable.livejournal.com]

Churches do rituals all the time, Sergeant.

Re: private

[kingfor-aday.livejournal.com]

There's an implied 'pagan' before it. Which I probably shouldn't have implied.

Re: private

[19centconstable.livejournal.com]

What about that bit where ladies skip around a big pole, though?

Re: private

[kingfor-aday.livejournal.com]

The Maypole? A phallic symbol. Designed, I was told, to represent fertility in nature and to contribute to the most bizarre education system I have ever seemed, which mainly seemed to revolve around debauchery and perversion.

Re: private

[19centconstable.livejournal.com]

But not murder.

Re: private

[kingfor-aday.livejournal.com]

No.

But from what I could see, they were all part of the same tradition for these people.

Re: private

[19centconstable.livejournal.com]

Well that may be so.

Re: private

[kingfor-aday.livejournal.com]

That being said, I prefer degenerate to murderous.

Re: private

[19centconstable.livejournal.com]

I suspect we all do, Sergeant.

Re: private

[kingfor-aday.livejournal.com]

In fact, if murder is definitely off the cards, a little bit of degeneracy is tolerable.

Re: private

[19centconstable.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes. A little good-natured degeneracy is alright. Like playing a prank on a friend, or getting a bit too tipsy, or breaking into a girl's window after curfew and kissing her but only if she's invited you.

Re: private

[kingfor-aday.livejournal.com]

Please tell me you've done all three of those, because if I have, and you haven't...

Re: private

[19centconstable.livejournal.com]

Oh, I might have done...

Re: private

[kingfor-aday.livejournal.com]

Duly noted, Constable. Duly noted.