Life's no fun without a good scare

[thalassino]

It starts some time around 3am, Tuesday morning. Thin whispers of fog start appearing all throughout Vatheon, creeping through the narrow, winding streets, up the steps, and over the park. It starts in the lower district, but as the night progresses and daylight approaches, it spreads to the other districts as well, growing thicker and thicker as it does. By the morning rolls around, the mist is thick enough that visibility has been compromised greatly, and the temperature seems to have dropped a few degrees, an odd chill filling the air.

And on the walls, there are stains.

They are infrequent at first, just a odd ruddy brown smear and a oddly bright red drop here and there, but the closer to the Plaza, the more numerous they become. There is a large smear across the steps leading up to the Plaza, as if something big was dragged up them. In one place the blood -- for it is blood, there is no deny it at this point -- pools thickly as if whoever was responsible took a casual break there, leaving the poor victim to bleed out on the steps.

On the plaza, the mist is thinner, but that is no relief. Rather, it just functions to make the gruesome scene all the more clearer.

A woman is draped upside down on the coral. Or, well, woman. It was once a woman, certainly, but now it is nothing more than something straight out of a nightmare. The flesh seems to have been torn carelessly from her limbs here and there, showing the white gleam of her bones, her nurse outfit torn as if raked apart by giant claws and her head...

well, it isn't there anymore.

The ground in front of her is smeared with blood as well. But where the previous smears had been accidental, these are deliberate, long lines curving and meeting to spell out



hel pm e


But no help had been forthcoming, clearly. No, it seems that this murder, this brutal murder, was nothing more than a game to whoever did it. The walls of the buildings surrounding the plaza are coated in bloody, spelling out a long string of mocking 'HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA's and directly in the center, behind the coral.


Who is next?


The notice board seems to have been hit too. The killer did not tear down any of the notices on the board already, but they did cover the entire board with blood-stained sheets of paper, each adorned with the same text over and over and over again.


Chop chop, sweet Charlotte
Chop chop till she's dead
Chop chop, sweet Charlotte
Chop off her hand and head.


For those brave enough to check, no, the poor girl still has both her hands. Was the killer just sloppy, or does this mean this is not Charlotte? So many unanswered questions, more born every passing moment.

Who had done this? Why? Where they going to strike again? And why had nobody heard anything?





[ooc note: Consider this your mingle log. Have fun, go forth, threadjack.

And as a further note, the fog does not seem to be clearing up as the week goes on. ]

Comments

You lot can carry on without me! He's just gonna... hang around and observe.

[xthecorvus]

[ A pause for consideration. ]

Perhaps the residents have their share of secrets, sir.

[ But he's gonna take his time to glance at the assembled residents, making note as to who had arrived and what they did. ]

o7

[macabre]

[ a tilt of his head as he looks toward the body again ]

And if you catch this criminal, what then?

[pactum]

I don't particularly care what happens after.

[ He gives a rather dismissive wave of one hand. ]

[macabre]

Perhaps there will be an execution.

[pactum]

Perhaps. [ Shrug. ] I've no idea what sort of law enforcement they have here, if any at all. But it certainly won't be my job.

[macabre]

Then why bother?

[pactum]

Boredom. [ Totally anti-climactic answer. ] Catching the criminal is merely something to occupy myself with. It doesn't matter to me what happens once I've done so.

[macabre]

Fascinating. How old are you?

[pactum]

[ Ciel hates this question--but it's inevitable, really, no matter who he's talking to. ]

My age is irrelevant.

[macabre]

Yes, it is.

[ and he smiles wide ]

[pactum]

Then don't ask pointless questions.

[ Have a scowl right back. ]

If you want to know something worthwhile, ask my name.

1/2

[macabre]

I do not care about your name.

2/2

[macabre]

Unless that would make us friends...?

[pactum]

It would make us acquaintances. [ Because Ciel Phantomhive doesn't have friends, geez. ]

[macabre]

Then I have no need for your name.

[pactum]

Then we've no business. [ Could this kid possibly be more difficult? ]

[macabre]

Fine with me.

[ but he continues sitting there, watching the bloody scene with a calm smile on his face ]