Strangely, Iris's anger sank easily as she drove. She was used to being hated & hatred; the world was strong again and she would need to become stronger. Though a withering philosophy that had come from her irrational violence as a teenager, she still believed that when she grew to a certain level of strength, she would be secure enough to no longer fear emotional stress; when she could create the circumstances of others' then no longer would she need to fear the decay of her own.
In this way the sublimation of her sundry emotional issues, which in youth had taken violent action, could now be dealt with via conscious thought. Of late she would rebel against the minor affections Olivia tried to lathe upon her; she would refuse a Flickendecke or help standing, even to the pain of herself and the guilt it caused in her afterwards. Belligerent and wild-eyed as a teenager, she had once denied even having thoughts in a language created by others.
First there was the matter of Thomas. One particular bit of evidence against him was that it was claimed he had pissed into the river after dumping one of the girl's bodies. The location was not listed in the reports Roy had given them, but he had asked them to confirm it; whether through Urasaria or civilian procedure did not matter.
Iris went through the line of businesses closest to that river, knowing that the police would have already spoken to whoever was closest to it. She glanced up at the security camera to this small, rather solitary diner, then stepped inside with Olivia and to the counter. "Hi, I'm sure you get a lot of white women asking this, but I need to speak with the owner for one minute."
"Uh, okay."
Soon he got the owner and Iris spoke with him off to the side. "We're investigating the death of a girl who was murdered near here recently."
"I thought I already spoke with you people."
Usually Iris would let him talk, but she feared that he might complain to the police otherwise. "You likely spoke to the police. We're with the defense." she said, thinking she probably should stop saying that.
"Oh, you're one of Thomas's shitty little friends, huh?"
"I'm neither his friend nor shitty nor little, but your belligerence answers me better than your vocabulary ever could."
"Get the fuck out of my sight right now, or I'll call the cops on you two."
In Iris's mind she replied: "Why, so the coroner can work overtime?"
But she did not. She left with Olivia. "It's this one."
"I figured."
"Doubt I'll need to Timeline for this one."
They went to the spot of river behind the restaurant, and Iris spent some time checking the states of the water around the time the girl was dumped. Nothing, yet she knew Thomas's urine should've made an impact. She glanced back, then tentatively scanned the wall of the restaurant, and sighed. "He pissed on that wall. Scanned it and can feel the liquid... God damnit, why would he... ugh. I suppose Roy could ask for that to be entered into evidence, later, but I doubt it matters much. Shows you how reliable eyewitness testimony is."
"Iris, can I ask you something?"
"I wish you would."
"When you say you scanned, what do you actually mean by that?"
"Kairos is chrono-omnipotent. It sees the birth of every atom, its parents, families, bonds, neighbors; every transformation and transfiguration it's undergone." Iris sighed. "…half the work I do in fights is just filtering through the shit. I had a vague sense of it before it activated, but now I'm dealing with Meteorology's knowledge of future weather patterns too. There's not a Revenant in the world that could beat it if it wasn't for my own stupid limitations."
Olivia smiled at the strutting peacock before her. "Well, let's go check Thomas's house."
Thomas's mother was not home, but she knew their appearance and had allowed them to Timeline her home. Iris spent about an hour reverting things around their shitty little house; the television, radio, seeing if there could be any potential alibi there. She tried Timelining Thomas's room, but his host aura made it difficult; the shape of his blanket suggested he was sleeping during most of the murders, though they were clumped up enough that even she was not sure.
"Wanna try the porch?" said Olivia.
Iris nodded, rested for a bit so as to prevent exhaustion, then went out to the front porch. She Timelined there and found that at the time of one of the girl's death, Thomas had been out on the front porch, in a rocking chair and smoking. He paused, and by the movement of smoke Iris could tell he had taken the cigarette from his mouth.
A minute later, the chair paused as Thomas's aura left it and his cigarette was put out. The front door opened, then closed about a minute later. She checked inside; judging by the empty can he was taking out the trash. Yet he did not return for a few minutes. She was forced to Timeline out on the front lawn, which was when she saw a pair of civilian clothes, the movement of its sleeves suggesting some argument. His clothes paused, then bent, and it was then Iris realized that Thomas was assaulting the man.
For a moment Iris thought to filter this out from Olivia's eyes. Better to argue it now than hide it from her, however. It was not morality that drove her here: whether his violence was right or wrong she couldn't give a damn. He was not guilty of the crime he was accused of, yet perhaps he was of others unknown. But she could not accuse him for what she had done herself: she felt a deep binding between them as formerly rogue hosts. As she looked to Olivia, she saw that she understood all of this without her telling, her eyes considering it a gift opened between the mind of the other.