PROLOGUE ; INVESTIGATION

[themodsgrimm]

The Story Continues... PROLOGUE - WEEK 0??? Narrators Remain ; The clock begins to chime, and on the first note, curfew lifts. Your doors swing open, whether you are ready or not. Leaving your room is a blur. The person you fell asleep beside — are they still there? Have they vanished? Were they ever there at all? You can't seem to recall clearly. What you are most aware of is the pervading sense of wrongness in the air, and how you can't hear anything but the chime of the clock. Even the sounds of your own voice and your own footsteps do not reach your ears. By the time the time the clock strikes nine, you know one thing to be true: blood has been spilt. Search the castle carefully — you wouldn't want to miss a single important detail, would you...? Welcome to your first investigation post! This time, as it is tutorial week, we will be posting toplevels for searchable locations; moving forward, you will post your own toplevels for locations you wish to searh. Evidence — or lack thereof — will be noted in these threads. We ask that group threads consist of no more than 3-4 characters. After the discovery of the body (or bodies) and any pertinent evidence, an IC announcement concluding the investigation will go up. You are then free to make your own toplevels on this post for any threads you would like to have between the end of the investigation and the start of the trial. If you have any questions, please ask on our Discord server or ping us on plurk. Please direct pings to Danielle (entrappings) and Britt (bloodthirstiest), as we will be taking point on this investigation! full navigation. locations taken (statuses) stories (profiles) info & faq wishing well private conversations

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[themodsgrimm]

[it does not rouse her just yet because i love myself too much to have to swap journals mid-investigation. once the thread is over, though!!

Magnus might notice, as he nudges here, that there are some spare decorations from the festival strewn about on the stairs along with the aforementioned glitter, sequins, and confetti.]

[randori]

[ rattles her by the shoulder frantically; if she's sleeping, don't even bother, Dazai, this'll wake her up ]

GI-GAN!! WAKE UP!! YOU'RE OKAY NOW! IT'S GONE!!

[themodsgrimm]

[Shaking him accomplishes his head swinging back and forth on his neck in a way that looks uncomfortably as if it may snap. Be careful, he's fragile. Also, his headpiece falls off. He does make a soft noise, so maybe he'll wake up shortly (when a certain someone isn't doing mod tags).

The ink smears do look approximately foot-shaped. Well, approximately half-foot-shaped. They resemble the toe area of the bottom of a shoe, but there are no shapes that resemble the back end of one. Curious!]

[alttitude]

[jae-ha glances back to monika briefly

and blinks in confusion because where did the crying girl go

.... anyway!

jae-ha will helpfully comment:]

I always knew I liked you for your sense of brute force. ♥

[EARN YOUR DAMN KEEP, FOOL]

[varas]

Oh... That's a relief.

[ Figuring that Reyna won't want too many people hovering over her when she rouses, Ann looks around the decorations strewn about more closely. Is there any murder glitter? ]

[wantsitall]

[Steph is now her only true friend. Belph deserved being manhandled =\ But she eyes the group before she brings a hand to her head.]

Confused...wait. If it's nine in the morning, does that mean the curfew's broken? Where's everyone else?

[themodsgrimm]

[Dave can smell the stain. That's fine. It smells like ink.

There are a few other purple stains on the other fabrics strewn about the rooms, which also smell like ink. The hangars don't look as though they've been tampered with, the tobacco just smells like tobacco, and the pipe is just a pipe... bit it's a little scuffed, as if it was dropped in the commotion of whatever else happened here.]

[spondulix]

[GO HOME, ARMOR! YOU'RE NO GOOD, ARMOR! YOU'LL NEVER BE SHIT, ARMOR! YOU'RE JUST - LIKE - YOUR FATHER!]

Don't yell. [He's staring down, frowning. He already suspects the worst.] I don't think anyone would just willingly sleep in armor. This is someone else's doing.

[themodsgrimm]

[Why are all of you like this. You don't know it's life. You don't know the quest that it's set out to achieve. Why can't you just respect it and its dance moves? It looks incredibly put out, judging by the slump to its shoulders. It raises both of its hands in a come on, seriously? gesture.]

[discardia]

Ah-- just a moment!

[ well, it's no slap, but she'll find a way to make this work. Which means she's grabbing a shield and bringing it over, hauling up one of the rusty swords they've liberated Nico from-- and smacking the flat of the blade unceremoniously against the shield.

Nice and clear.

good morning, Nico! ]

[faceripper]

Hm—

[ Fane reaches inside his cloak and pulls out... A napkin. He very carefully starts to lower the napkin over the half-foot-shaped ink blob, but he's trying to only get a slight impression of the ink onto the napkin. It's going to bleed into it, so he's doing his best not to saturate it and preserve the shape. ]

What else? He's clearly fine [ fane you don't even know that ] so I'm looking elsewhere. The ink dripping from that tapestry has been disturbed.

[wearys]

Weird, she doesn't seem the type to party. What's this all doing here?

[ maybe she had a fiesta siesta? is jack's suggestion that is Ignored by magnus, never to be spoken aloud.

he will just like. gently make sure reyna's not secretly bleeding to death even if he can't do magic healing shit here. ]

[concasse]

... Listen, asshole.

We're kinda tired, thought we found a dead body -- [FUCK YOU, JAE-HA] -- noooot really in the mood for your shitty moves.

So tell ya what. Come back some other time and I'll think about it.

[nivation]

[ Kyouka's movements are never frivolous, but she goes very, very still.

She watches closely, hoping for any movement from Gi-gan.

Please. ]

We have to find out who.

[disclosures]

How can you tell how he is? Are you a doctor?

[But she will stop prodding poor Ion for now.]

So somebody stepped in it?

[randori]

Is she bleeding anywhere? Any ink, or—

[ leans in and buries his face by her neck and gives her a good whiff, idk are there any distinctive smells...? we're collecting all the info we can ]

[doublecrows]

[WOW STEPH, THANKS?? AKECHI WAS PERFECTLY POLITE!!]

I'm sure they're scattered around the manor. Either that, or still asleep in their rooms. I didn't conduct a head count before arriving at the ballroom.

[unromanceable]

[ Oh, don't get her wrong. There are still tear trails on her face, which she wipes away with the back of her hand. She's quiet for a moment, pulling a hairband off her wrist and using it to tie up her long, long hair. It seems the white ribbon she usually wears is a separate piece.

There's a very tense quality to the air around her, as if it might catch fire just to get away.

Moving slowly, she steps through the kitchen, stopping only to locate, and pick up, a cast-iron skillet.

Her smile is nothing but sweet, which is what frankly makes it so frightening. ]

It really was a joke! Well, I think our senses of humor are pretty different, so I don't really get it. So...

[ Monika cants her head. ]

If you don't move, I'll replace your head with this skillet, because I'd really like to leave, and I'm sure the rest of us would, too! So, would you mind getting out of our way?

[themodsgrimm]

[There isn't a pulse.

In fact, if he's checking for a pulse on her neck, he'll find a small puncture wound there. Surprisingly, there isn't any blood — but her skin and clothing is stained purple. (It smells like ink. Good going, Natsuo!)

There's an identical puncture wound further down, on her chest. Whatever it was, it ripped through both clothing and skin.

At this point, there is no denying it: Gi-gan is dead.]

[fonlines]

Wait, are you-

[ Ion's just going to steer clear of that rusty sword right--

also from the noise because Souji and Cardia's comments both should have been warning enough, and yet he still. jumps. a little, going rigid.

his tuning fork also helps out in adding to the noise apparently, with a soft and low hum because that's what tuning forks do when loud sounds happen near them, they start resonating and shit. :/

good morning, Nico. ]

[axilium]

Well, if you're alive, then someone else is dead.

[just saying?]

[alchemenace]

Do we even have a doctor here? I don't remember that being on anyone's tapestry... Miss Bunch, I will be right back.

[ he's scrambling up to go look at the ink with fane to not acknowledge the doctor word. Also he's curious ]

Is it just the ink?

[ can he see anything fane can't etc ]

[disilluded]

[Yeah, honestly, as soon as it's obvious the suit of armor's self-esteem has been entirely CRUSHED and that it will need therapy for many years (and thus it won't be stopping them), Sousei goes ahead and shoves right on by to leave.

LATER.

HE'S GOTTA GO FIND OUT HIS PARTNER IS DEAD.]

[resumed]

[GOOD MORNING NICO, INDEED. The clanging starts and Nico's up like a shot, legs kicking and sending swords skittering across the floor. He's quick to draw the three-foot stygian iron blade though and holds it in front of himself, ready to attack until he realizes it's three people he's...well. At least seen around.

He doesn't say anything, sword up and armed still but silently waiting for an explanation with wide, wary eyes.]

[themodsgrimm]

[Crushed. :(

Well, it looks at Sanji and nods. It's taking you at your word, and turns around to leave them be, departing with many metallic clangs. Who knows where it's off to now, or who its next challenger may be.

Find it when you want to test your metal.]