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DmonRth t1_j67opnw wrote

2/3

Rocky stuffed his hands in his pocket and turned to head back down the path.

Harris shot him a look, “Leaving already?”

“Gonna grab a tea and mull this.”

“Mull what? You been here two minutes. Can I buy a vowel?”

Rocky decided to give him a little bite to keep him busy, something that he wouldn’t call crazy talk, ”You were more right about the double than you know. Slap a mustache on the one in with the nice shoes and they’d almost be twins.”

Rocky tossed the more… eclectic clues he’d noticed around in his head as he made his way through the streets. Someone had tried their hand at a ritual. That someone had been sloppy. Real sloppy. And fortunate. Not only had they positioned the bodies pointing the wrong direction, they had also inverted the runes they’d carved on the surrounding trees. Hell, they’d even gotten the timing wrong. Last night had been a wanning crescent. A hack job like that could’va ended up getting a whole lot more people killed.

The more he thought about it the more it didn’t add up though. The ritual they had attempted wasn’t something you looked at a book and copied. It was something that gets locked into your mind’s eye as you progress from binding lesser demons to middling ones and so on. It took time, patience, and precision.

Rocky bent down to tie his shoe, not because he needed to, but because he was feeling vexed by the whole thing.

Opposite moon, reversed direction, inverted runes, almost twins. Why or who on earth would…

And then, while his fingers were making bunny ears with the laces, the answer hit him like a trolley with no brakes.

293/300

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NicomacheanOrc t1_j69wyba wrote

<3/3>

"Rocky, what are we doing here?" Harris's voice was level, but his eyes were wide. "This place is...it's all wrong."

"No," said Rocky, "it's almost right." The candles guttered low, their green-tinged bodies looking sickly below their flames. The runes were etched into the walls, this time; Rocky's wrists still hurt from the strain.

"It took me a long minute to get it," he said to Harris. "I hadn't connected the Running Men to the other murders lately."

Harris had stopped in the middle of the room–just as Rocky knew he would. "Those MOs were completely different," he said shakily. "Mutilation, spatter everywhere. Why would you?"

Rocky loosened his kris from his sleeve. "Ever thought about the trolley problem?" he asked his counterpart.

"Pull the lever, become a murderer, save lives?" asked Harris. "What the hell are you getting at? This place is scaring me, Rocky."

"The Running Men were a summoning," said Rocky.

"Cult shit?" asked Harris.

"Cult shit," confirmed Rocky. "But I couldn't figure out why the killer botched everything so badly. And then it hit me: it was a trap. Everything was so close, close enough to bait the mass-murdering, soul-eating demon from across the city...but off just enough that it could all be collapsed." Rocky took a deep, steadying breath, "It's how you catch a demon," he sighed, "and how you finally kill one."

"So the loony thought they were pulling the trolley lever, murdering two to save dozens?" asked Harris.

"And getting themselves damned for murder in the process," said Rocky. "Both sides of the dilemma covered."

"Rocky, please, what the hell's your point here?" Harris begged, from the center of the pentagram.

"The greatest good for the greatest number," said Rocky sadly, and his kris kissed red.

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DmonRth t1_j6adgo4 wrote

Absolutely wonderful. Just perfect. I love it. I didnt even think about the trolley problem when i wrote my part, so its awesome that you used that as the tie in. Thanks so much for the 3/3!

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NicomacheanOrc t1_j6aksnq wrote

My pleasure! Glad you enjoyed, and thanks for teeing that up!

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