Event Mingle

[redthreadmods]

Who: Everyone
When: Day 6
What: An unpleasant surprise
Where: Courtyard
Warnings: A corpse (Let the mods know if threads go into territory that requires additional warnings)

It's a pleasant day and the sun is shining in through the courtyard's glass roof. Maybe that only serves to draw more attention to the bright colors of an unfamiliar figure sitting in the shade of a tree.

That is, someone who is both unfamiliar and quite dead. Closer inspection will reveal she died from the wooden stake that's still stuck through her heart. There are a number of lesser injuries present as well; whoever this was, she clearly went out fighting. And she clearly wasn't pleased about the situation, as one of her hands seems permanently stuck flashing the middle finger.

With all her clothes in place, two odd marks will be visible. First, there are several thin bands on her pinky finger, tattood in red ink. There are also dots on her neck that almost make it look like someone bit her, but on closer inspection, it's not blood but a similar red dye. Should anyone be intrepid enough to remove her clothes, there are several more red tattoos to find: a knife on her back, a noose on the front of neck, a broken bottle on her right arm, a gun on the left, a mace on her left shoulder, and something across her heart that's been obscured by the stake injury, but might have been an arrow.

Perhaps most curious is that anyone with any knowledge of the subject might be able to identify that the death isn't recent. Whoever this corpse belongs to, she's been dead for a while. There's no one around to give any answers, so exactly where she came from and what she's doing in the courtyard now remains quite a mystery.

A pair of bubble blowers, meanwhile, have been placed into the weapon cabinets. It's equally mysterious what they're supposed to be good for.

Comments

[alwaysvexing]

Courtyard

Vex notices the girl from across the courtyard and moves closer, curious about the new person. Maybe they let someone new in since the night before, or at least that's what he assumes. It's not until he gets closer that he notices the stake and... well, everything else that says she's very much not as alive as he first expected.

"Well. That puts a damper on things, doesn't it?"

That said, he just seems disappointed by the corpse, rather than shocked or disgusted.

Weapons cabinet

At some point later in the day, the new additions to the weapon stash catch Vex's eye. Or rather, it's hard for them not to considering how brightly colored they are, and how completely out of place they look next to actual weapons. He doesn't completely dismiss them, given how odd things are in the Fae world sometimes. Still...

"What do you suppose those do?" Because the obvious guess is either squirt water or blow bubbles, and that's just ridiculous.

[social_insect]

"Maybe they fire something like holy water or garlic juice?" Jan suggested. She still has vampires on the mind from the corpse, rather than suggesting something liquid that might do more than annoy most people.

[alwaysvexing]

"Garlic juice." Well that's just disgusting, vampire or not. "Suppose that's one way to overpower the smell of rotting corpse."

[social_insect]

"It would do that too!" Garlic smelled... well, it smelled like you were about to get a nice Italian meal, which was not a bad feeling.

[alwaysvexing]

Yes, but imagine that mixed with the smell of a corpse, and it's a lot less pleasant.

"Either way, not much of a deadly weapon, are they?"

[social_insect]

"Unless you are fighting vampires," Jan added. "Call it situational."

[social_insect]

"But... but vampires don't leave corpses, do they?" Because clearly if you find a body killed by stake through the heart, it is a vampire. Even if humans and many other beings can die from that method.

"Right. Right. We need to check for clues. I wish I had my sewing machine..." Because Jan wasn't used to taking charge here. She was the one who got to enthusiastic follow and provide awesome costumes. And thinking about whether she should make a vampire hunter costume or a detective is easier than dealing with a corpse.

[silentasterisk]

*Hyun-ae, now done screaming... finally, maybe, is trying to settle and frowning deeply. She's grossed out, to be honest, but... considering what she's done herself, hah, she realizes she has no right to be. So as a bit of self-punishment, maybe she should help with this as best she can.

"Why a sewing machine? How would that help with a murder? We need a camera to document evidence, not clothes... at least, that's how it goes in the detective movie I saw, once. So I think... that's what we should do. Probably...?"

She pauses, looking at her own PJs--the little dinosaurs on them, the light blue fabric, the hasty sewing job in the middle of her chest... ick.

"... Well. I mean, I need clothes, these pajamas are completely ridiculous, but that's entirely off topic."

[social_insect]

"Oh, I think better when I can work on something," Jan explained. "That and you'd be surprised how many times something new shows up and we need special costumes or something."

[theserpentsmiles]

Nagisa has been pretty quiet, despite the urge to socialize. A short, blue figure in the background, for the most part; polite and friendly if spoken to but sticking to the sidelines. He hasn't made a strong impression. He knows too little about the situation to make a splash yet...

And then, there it is. There she is. Not one of the people he's noted around. So..don't mind if the middle schooler just...kneels by the body, inspecting it. He's got his pad and pencil out to take notes. He's very calm, and very, very thorough.

"...I should have researched forensics some..." It's just a quiet thought, said to himself but loud enough to hear.

[alwaysvexing]

Well, that's an interesting sight, and Vex watches with a raised eyebrow for a moment before commenting with a scoff.

"Pint-sized detective. There's something I don't see every day."

[theserpentsmiles]

He looks up with a start. Pint-sized...he really hopes he grows taller soon.

"Oh, I'm not a detective! I think you need a license for that."

[alwaysvexing]

He can think of someone who likes to play detective who'd scoff at the idea of needing a license... and at following any rules in general, really. But he's not here to talk about her. The look he's giving the kid gets a bit more skeptical, if anything.

"So you're saying you have some other reason to be that comfortable poking around a corpse."

[theserpentsmiles]

...Whoops, that's. Not quite the response he expected, he needs to be more careful.

"Well... It's just a body. It's not going to sit up and attack me."

Dead people don't do that. They're just dead.

[silentasterisk]

[Courtyard]

[ *Hyun-ae screams. Because that's what you do when you see a dead body, and she'll never get used to it, even though she... did what she did way back when. She holds her hands over her face, staring, eyes wide. ]

Oh my goodness, someone should--we should find someone, they need to know about this! Why is this person here?! ... Is... vampires can't exist, can they? I mean, I remember reading about them a long time ago in a story I liked, b-but...

[Weapons Cabinet]

[ She'd only noticed the new thing because she's observant. She'd passed it by, and, well... it looked off. She stopped here and... just. Bubbles? ]

U-um, what? Why is there a BUBBLE BLOWER in a weapons cabinet? What could that possibly do? I mean, seriously? How could we defend ourselves with THAT from a vampire?!

[ ... It seems she hasn't gotten over the situation in the Courtyard. ]

[grimalkid]

Vampires do exist, although they come in all sorts. Besides, most things die from a stake in the chest. [He just...shows up behind her.]

[silentasterisk]

S-scientifically speaking, it makes ZERO sense for vampires to exist. Someone probably just... really liked vampire romance fiction and whoever killed this person thought it was funny to use that against them. Which is AWFUL. They should feel awful!

[ SHE feels a little sick, that's for sure. ]

We definitely shouldn't touch the body, this is a crime scene. Someone needs to alert the authorities... ARE there any police here, even? Any Security AI... anything?

[grimalkid]

Scientifically? Vampires are monsters, they can do things that science can't explain. [He nods to himself as he looks at the body.] Some of them go back to a more normal form when killed, though. I haven't seen anyone who looks like a policeman around, either.

[silentasterisk]

Um, science can explain EVERYthing.

[ She practically huffs. ]

If it hasn't been explained by science, yet, then they just haven't found an answer to it, is all. Vampires don't exist. They're not real. It doesn't make any sense for there to be actual vampires here. This person probably just liked fictional ones. But... the bigger concern here is the lack of police! If there's no authorities, who're we gonna report this to?

[grimalkid]

Oh, alright, believe what you will. Until you're actually in danger from a vampire.

Do you think anyone here has that kind of authority? Although they all seem to be here already...

[silentasterisk]

I mean... is being in danger from a real vampire that likely? Aren't they weak to a common household seasoning?

[ She suddenly feels less sure of herself, but... come on. Vampires? Really? ]

[grimalkid]

Well, last one I met had a mortal stooge who went around getting it blood. Used to be a perfectly nice statue until she started messing things up too. [He does have some respect for temple statues. One protected him for a while when he was younger.]

[silentasterisk]

... I... what?

[ You've lost her. ]

Are you saying you KNEW one?!

[grimalkid]

Yeah, and it tried to kill me too.