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]

[Excuse you, Magnus. Romans invented parties.

If Reyna's bleeding, it's not externally! She looks fine. As fine as anyone can be when they're not moving, anyway. Aurum pads over and presses his face into Magnus's hand. Pet him, human.

Ann will find some glitter among the festival decorations. Confetti and sequins, too. Someone really was having a good time last night!

The two of them have found all there is to find here.]

[randori]

[ Purple ink... Why? Natsuo falls back once it's clear Gi-Gan's been good and stabbed, refusing to look at her face at all. But there's... The armor. He goes back to the armor she was found in, and peers inside. Is there ink in here too? Blood? Can he finally smash the gauntlet now that it's been hollowed out and take that sword? ]

[thesettingsun]

[For the record, Dazai is absolutely not licking any ink off a dead body.]

...I'm sorry.

[varas]

[ Once her cursory search turns up nothing, Ann turns back to Magnus and the very prone Reyna. ]

Hey, do you think you can pick her up? It might be best if we leave her in her room so she can rest a bit.

[ ... her glance flicks toward Aurum ]

[fragileprophet]

[There's nothing else to be found out of the ordinary in the dining hall, and as such, Ion finally opens his eyes. His movements are slow, and he struggles in his disorientation to even sit up, nearly falling back over in the struggle.]

What...where am I?

[He puts a shaking hand to his forehead.]

[sanguinairy]

[GOOD THING NICO DOESN'T ACTUALLY DO ANYTHING ELSE because Souji's immediate and reflexive response to Armed People making sudden movements around him is to attack, like some sort of wild weasel. As things are he definitely grabs the nearest weapon and raises it like he's gonna get stabby if he has to but FORTUNATELY

HE DOESN'T.

And he lowers it soon after so he can put it back on the ground.]

...Well. At least that worked? [Good work, team.] Good morning, Nico. Please take care, you're standing in swords.

[spondulix]

"Once a week, at least one person will be killed."

[And there it is. Fitzgerald lets out a huff, placing his hands in his pockets. He's not going to investigate yet, but he is going to glance around the area - any evidence of a fight? Scuffle? Drag marks from a body?]

That's what their little list of rules said, didn't it? So we shouldn't be surprised. I wonder who would have motivation to kill someone like her, though.

[wearys]

Good idea, we shouldn't leave her here.

[ magnus will pet aurum! and even give him a chin scritch. ] I'm going to pick up your mom, now, okay boy?

[ and while hoping that like, her neck isn't broken, magnus will Try to scoop her up. which would be easier with his usual dead guy powers considering reyna's probably muscle mass, but he will do his best? ]

[discardia]

[ She's just going to stare between the two of them, before gently setting down her sword and shield.

Also thanks for the assist, Ion!! ]

Good morning. Why were you buried here?

[concasse]

[... So.

Monika probably killed a man at some point in her life. Cool. Sanji hopes she got away with it.]

I-it's gone, Monika-chan. We're alright now!

[Please put down that skillet]

[vigilantics]

Thanks, Belph, for your wonderful input.

[ she points at the door. ]

The plaque is missing.

[alttitude]

[Jae-ha loves a lady with murderous aura!

... but it looks like the situation is handled and Sousei is wandering off like there's more pressing stuff to do. So fortunately he's going to opt for being responsible before being a floozy for once and just manages a smile.]

Take care of her, won't you, Sanji?

[ - and he'll take off too!

because

he has to find out mom's dead]

[fonlines]

[ He's very helpful even when he doesn't actively mean to be. But when Nico shoots up and draws his sword Ion shifts his grip on his staff, fixing his stance just a little-

only to relax and relent when no further action is taken. So instead, he beams, and: ]

Thank goodness you're all right. We feared the worst when we saw you lying there.

Do you remember anything that happened...?

[wantsitall]

[That's awful? Like even if she doesn't care about most of the people in this castle, actually giving into their game is...tragic.]

So someone moved me and took the sign? [She sits up on her knees, reaching up and finding that the ballroom's still locked.] That's absurd. [She looks back at the group again.] If someone really is dead? We have to find out who.

[nivation]

She— was nice. Does motive excuse murder?

[ Her voice falters on the first word only, but her defenses come up. Death always follows her, and she doesn't like it. As one switch turns off within her, another switches on.

She's going to examine the puncture wounds and then the rest of Gi-gan for anything else that's amiss other than purple. ]

There should be blood, but there isn't.

[randori]

Nothing excuses murder.

[ He tries to keep his voice calm, but it definitely pitches up, shaking through gritted teeth. ]

Bet it's the Dragon or Tiger, one of those two- no one else would want to kill anybody!

[resumed]

[He keeps his grip on his sword especially noticing at least half of the group is armed, but he doesn't lunge and he doesn't attack. Instead, he shifts his way out of the swords very carefully, sneakers pushing them over as he looks between all of them and then toward the door.]

No. Where's Kyouka? [...shit. Shit, wait.] I don't know what happened, but I have to go find her. [He's still kicking his way out of swords though.] Someone's gone.

[That has to be it, right? Why they're all here and investigating the area. How he got under the swords he doesn't even know, but that's clearly not important here.]

[unromanceable]

[ ...

the tension that's been rolling off her in waves finally dissipates, and Monika puts the skillet down. ]

I hate this.

[ said very soft. unless sanji stops her, she'll leave, too. ]

[parodeity]

It's ink. Do we bleed ink?

[ legitimate question. ]

Maybe they were movin' mannequins.

[ he doesn't care for the idea. ]

[doublecrows]

[. . . glances at Belph]

That's quite the conclusion to jump to, Belph-san. Despite the heavy atmosphere, we don't know for sure that someone has died.

[and then, back to Sharpay]

But if someone is dead, then yes, you're right. We do need to find out who.

[concasse]

[no, he won't.

He figures everyone needs some space right now.

And assuming there's nothing else to find, Sanji is gonna make himself his goddamn coffee before he gets to hear the bad news, too.]

[themodsgrimm]

[Natsuo can smash the gauntlet and take the sword — for now. But when the investigation concludes, it will vanish and return to the suit of armor. The inside of the armor smells vaguely of ink and metal, but not of blood.

When Fitz glances around, he may see a few stray flecks of purple on the ground — more ink, if it's sniffed at.

Gi-gan's body seems to only have purple ink where her blood should be. Her clothing is mussed as if she was involved in some kind of a scuffle, and her hair is starting to fall down in front of her face instead of being tucked behind her ears, as it usually does.

The puncture wounds are the only obvious wounds there. There does not seem to be anything else to find.]

[axilium]

[he shrugs.]

I'm a pessimist.

[spondulix]

Being nice doesn't stop you from being murdered. And if you think that no one else would want to kill anybody...?

[He lets out a laugh. It's not a nice one. He wanders over to the specks of ink? What is it doing here? Did it come from her?]

No blood? [Huh.] Was she wounded after she was dead? But there still would be some sense of blood...

[themodsgrimm]

[Popping in one last time to clarify — the droplets of ink on the ground are an exact match for the ink from Gi-gan's wounds! Yikes.]