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]

[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.]

[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.

[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.

[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!

[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.]

[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.]

[randori]

Nobody else would want to. [ hisses through gritted teeth. It's never something somebody wants to do—- forced is a different story, cornered and left with no option, those are things he might be able to swallow a little easier.

He stares after Fitzgerald for a bit, then turns to Kyouka or Dazai, whoever's closest to the body because he's still refusing to be within ten feet of her. ]

Her neck. Does she bleed properly at all if you press there? Maybe it's not really her.

[ Or is this a Dangan thing where everybody has bright happy ink blood ]

[nivation]

[ Kyouka gives Natsuo the briefest of glances. Her tapestry says assassination, and it's not a lie. She knows there's no excuse for it. Just so, Fitzgerald is right, too. ]

If those two wanted us all dead, we would already be dead. [ She sounds certain about that. ]

If... the purple stains were blood instead, it would make more sense.

[ She's seen her fair share of blood splatters to have some knowledge. ]

[thesettingsun]

Purple blood's not exactly common. Even I don't have that.

[That said, he's gonna press down on Gi-gan's neck just to make sure there isn't any blood in there somewhere.]

[spondulix]

What do you mean, "even I don't have that"? How can this be blood? If you bleed a different color, then you're not human.

[A beat.]

Unless... [He looks down again at the stains on the floor, then to the dead body.] No. It can't be.

[themodsgrimm]

[more purple splurts out from her neck when he does that

surprise!]