[ WEEK ONE – INVESTIGATION ]

[sheriffexe]

INVESTIGATION

The town is quiet, eerily so. All animals, all chatter, all gusts of wind have come to a complete stop this morning. A tumbleweed passes by through the center of town and the rocking chair on the Sheriff's porch sways but remains silent. Everything is muted and as the door of the hotel opens, the only sensation that rings utterly true today is this: One of your own is gone. And now, as the rules state, it is your job to discover their fate. Welcome to the investigation post! If your character decides to search an area, please post the name of the location in your header and wait for mod replies. Anything to discover will be indicated during the course of the thread. After the body is discovered, an announcement will be made and characters are free to spend the rest of the afternoons how they like. If there are any questions, please shoot a message either to this journal or at robowest.

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Comments

[sheriffexe]

[ Oh, Chane. Sweet Chane.

Inside the coffin is a skeleton! It's quite decayed, actually, no longer as freshly buried as it once was. The only thing left from the years of decay is hair really. One thing to note about the hair is just how similar it looks to someone else in the game.

Weird. ]

[tightly]

[ Well, what did she expect from opening a coffin, really? Not even Chane's icy brand of stoicism can withstand the smell of a decomposed corpse, a stench that she's now breathing in. Fighting back the urge to gag viscerally, she peers down closer at the skeleton, recognising ... something. She recognises something; it catches at a corner of her recent memory.

Peeking her head back out the dug grave, she waves a hand to try to get someone's attention. Anyone's, really. ]

[ceded]

[ Xion happens to notice Chane waving and moves over, apprehensive--

--and cuts off a shriek when she manages to see what's in there. ]

Who -- who is that?!

[ reaching down to offer chane a hand out if she needs it, too ]

[tightly]

[ Immediately, Chane's stepping out and trying to guide Xion away from the grave. Get back, small and innocent youth!

Seriously, don't look. ]

[ceded]

[ For whatever reason, the smell doesn't seem to bother her. But she's shaking all over again, trembling so hard she seems at risk of falling over. ]

Who is that! Who is that!

[tightly]

[ Gingerly, Chane rests one hand on Xion's shoulder in an attempt to keep her steady. The touch is light and impersonal, and it's clear she wasn't prepared to take this kind of role.

I don't know -- the words form in her throat, her mind, but don't make it any farther than that. ]

[dmails]

[He notices Chane waving.]

[Sniffs.]

[Looks in.]

[Immediately runs a few feet away to puke.]

[tightly]

[ Hello ]

[ Goodbye ]

[impulsiveness]

[Luckily, Chane manages to get Jason's attention!

Not so luckily, he pales slightly when he approaches and notices she's dug up Rin's coffin.

Um.]

... It's not relevant to what's going on now. It's just another fucked up joke. [From Hal's employers, probably.] The girl that belongs to — she's still alive. Don't worry.

[He didn't even look inside the coffin.]

[tightly]

... [ Chane isn't sure if that's better or worse, honestly. For someone to go through this much trouble, well. It leaves a faint chill at the base of her spine.

With one last look at the skeleton, she attempts to clamber out of the grave and into the fresh air. ]

[impulsiveness]

[He'll help her out of the grave, if she'll allow him. Otherwise, he bites his lip and waits for her to climb out before speaking again.]

You holding up okay? It's— pretty bad.

[tightly]

[ Eventually, she takes his hand and lets him bear some of her weight as she steps out.

One girl dead, another girl missing and possibly also gone, and now this...

Chane can't bring herself to indicate an answer either way. ]

[thatsthespirit]

[also notices the waving and approaches, peering over the edge]

[. . .]

[her gaze narrows]

How charming.

[and by charming she means DISGUSTING but just as she was when she first saw Ao's body, she's oddly calm]

[stentorian]

[Manfred has seen his share of corpses in his line of work, in various stages of decay. Some have not even started, but others are much, much further along.

He was expecting some sort of grisly revelation when Chane starts waving people over, especially with the smell, but he visibly relaxes when he sees that it's a decayed skeleton.]

If this truly belonged to someone among us, it shouldn't be so quick to decompose like this.

[insincerely]

[As Shinnosuke peers over into the grave, he frowns at the smell, but he does look inside the coffin, and:]

... Please tell me there aren't decayed skeletons that resemble us for everyone buried here.

[elemancy]

Would you really be surprised at this point?

[insincerely]

No. I'd say that the people behind this seriously need to get a hobby, but that'd also be unsurprising.

[elemancy]

It's as sick a joke as everything else around here—starting to wonder if anything screwy can be surprising now.

[hydrokinetics]

[Also peering over his shoulder, hello.]

What are the chances that's a lot of why they brought us here? [He's visibly disturbed, but at least he sounds level enough.] Too much of a coincidence.

[impulsiveness]

[Jason looks uncomfortable for a moment, but— he nods.]

There are. I can... sorta confirm it.

[insincerely]

Great. [...] And while we're at it, has anyone seen Rin Tohsaka?

[impulsiveness]

No. Not today.

[Which is concerning given the current state of affairs.]

But the corpse in that coffin doesn't belong to her. So we know she's not buried here, if anywhere.

[thatsthespirit]

You could always open the other coffins and check.

[HA HA. . . ha. . .]

Either way, it's likely.

[insincerely]

How delightful... I could, or you could do it for me.

[thatsthespirit]

[she waves a hand. no thanks!!]

You're the one who asked, not me. I'm not going to satisfy your curiosity for you.