vatheon | Life's no fun without a good scare

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Life's no fun without a good scare

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.

]

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[Death isn't an easy thing for anyone to stomach - especially one that resulted in this.]

I don't think any of us expected something like this, here or even back home. This is just... [He sighs, tearing his gaze away from the string of hahahahas.]

This is just sadistic.

[There's a pause while he runs his eyes over the writing as well, before looking up properly at Akihiko.]

...Yeah...

We have to do something about it.

[There's no way they can let this happen again. To anyone.]

Definitely. [There will be no argument from Akihiko on that front.]

We'll track down whoever did this. [Despite what's been lain out before them, Akihiko's voice shows no fear. Despite the gruesome murder that's taken place, his determination is taking hold. No matter how sadistic, no matter how awful, whoever did this must be brought down. To have someone capable of this running about Vatheon meant that everyone was in danger.

And Akihiko had no intentions of letting anyone become the next victim.]

Let's gather up what clues we have.

[A quiet nod is the only response, even as he glances around the bloody plaza, speaking almost absently.]

There's the writing and the body...

But the blood smears don't lead anywhere. I already followed them for Valiant-san-- er. Valiant. They just disappear after a point.

[It's...definitely a mystery.]

They just disappear? How is that even possible?

[Akihiko looks around the area, hands moving to his hips as he tries to focus on how something could simply disappear like that.]

You don't think whatever this was managed to fly away, do you?

[...fly away. There's a frown at that.]

Here, that might be possible.

I'm not sure where they would go, though. Unless they got to the island, it's all enclosed.

[If they did get to the island, and they can fly, that might be it for them though...]

[Still recovering from the night before, this is not the kind of welcome Yukari'd been expecting when she returned to the city.

...It's sickening, and the fog is suffocating.

But she'd decided to follow the two anyway, against her best interests, listening to them as they discussed the topic; having no idea whether they were aware of her presence or not. She was just focused on...not puking.]

The killer's trapped just like we are.

[It's a matter-of-fact observation. She hopes she doesn't scare them too badly, though.]

[Akihiko turns his head to Yukari - he hadn't noticed her follow them but that that she's here, he won't argue her presence. SEES always worked best in teams of three or four, after all.]

This bubble may not be huge but it's big enough to hide out in. I don't know how the guy behind this made his escape but Takeba's right - he's trapped just like we are.

[Minato greets Yukari with a nod, but little more than that--he's too distracted by the problem at hand.]

It's true. There are enough of us here to find him, I think, but...

[It would be a lie to say that anything about this made him comfortable.]

It's most important that everyone is kept safe.

[Whether that means going all out to catch the guy first or hanging back and trying to protect everyone, he is not yet sure]

Ugh... [She nods to agree. Safety is important, this is why they have the Defense Force.]

Yeah. I dunno how much longer I can take this, though. S'completely different from the Dark Hour, isn't it?

[There's blood everywhere then, too, but...

There's something more ominous about this.]

Um...is someone going to come get the body?

[Yukari raises another good point - caught up in all the thoughts of trying to catch whoever did this, the idea that the corpse was still there, hanging from the coral, hadn't entirely crossed his mind. Someone would need to get rid of it, give that woman a proper burial instead of leaving her strung up to be gawked at by the entire bubble.

Akihiko steps forward, nodding to the other two.]

I can probably get the body down... We shouldn't leave her up like that.

[He just nods quietly, tucking his hands into his pockets for lack of anything better to occupy himself with.]

We should probably clean up the plaza.

I think Kazutaka-sensei was planning to do an autopsy of the body. We should...probably bring it to him.

[At least there's a doctor, right...? Even if he's kind of sketch.]

[Really sketch. But what choice do they have?

She looks at all the bloodstains around the plaza, though, the Hahahas and the words--

He's probably right.]

She shouldn't be too heavy if it's the three of us...but I also don't wanna contaminate anything, if anyone's gonna need any of this stuff.

[Motioning to the aforementioned blood this time. So many people, there's gotta be at least a small group interested in investigating.

But you know what, she lives here and she passes through the plaza every day. Whatever the case, she just wants this stuff gone.]

I don't want to contaminate the scene either, Takeba... But to just leave her up there and to leave this place in this state... [He looks down to the ground, sighing a bit as he shakes his head.]

I don't know who this woman was but she deserves more respect than this. Let's get her in to that doctor to take a look as soon as we can. Once we have more information, we can start trying to catch this guy.

[Minato just nods quietly, glancing again at the scene before quietly rolling up his sleeves. It's easier once they have a plan of action, isn't it?]

Will you help me get her down, senpai? We can take her to the doctor.

[He'll certainly feel better once they're doing something, as opposed to just standing there doing nothing.]

[What is she, chopped liver?

But fine. Acknowledging Akihiko's point, she nods, sighing as she folds her arms--shivering a bit, too, because it's kinda cold. And she watches the big strong men take care of the body.

She almost doesn't wanna look.]

[Akihiko rolls his own sleeves up, giving Minato a nod.]

Should we both climb the coral and bring her down slowly?

[he's not going to make you pull down a dead body, yuka-tan--

But he just nods quietly to Akihiko's question, not seeing much need to answer it verbally, before moving to climb onto the coral as best he can.

Thankfully, it being coral, there are plenty of hand and footholds, so it isn't too difficult a climb.]

You...you better be careful, or I'll hurt you both.

[h m p t h.

And that's all the warning they'll get. Her voice is pretty shaky though, as she watches; this atmosphere is really doing nothing for her.]

[Akihiko begins to climb the coral, turning his head to call back to Yukari-] We're got this, Takeba - spot us, all right? Once we have the body, it'll be easy to misstep.

[Once they have the body. Akihiko breathes and continues to climb, catching up on the other side of Minato. It's kind of morbid to think that here he is, helping remove a corpse from a pile of coral... But this was never something he thought he'd ever have to do in the peace of Vatheon.]

[With Akihiko comforting Yukari (it's rather clear she's scared by all of this, not that he blames her), Minato focuses on climbing back down with a body in their arms.

While they had fought often...dead people were something else entirely.

It's sobering, in a way. This place is still dangerous.

But they manage to get back down without a misstep, and Minato quietly lays the body on the ground so they can plan their next move.]

I believe I saw the doctor here somewhere...

[Or they can take her to the clinic, though Minato would honestly like to avoid having to deal with the dead body as much as possible.]

Yeah...

[She can't help but stare, shuddering, putting a hand over her mouth as if she wouldn't be able to hold off on puking for much longer. She does indeed spot them, with confidence, as Akihiko instructed, but when they get her back down...

It kind of hits her.

The body doesn't even have a head...

...

No lasting expression to leave behind, no way to tell if she was scared or tired or happy or sad...

Just. Nothing.]

[But she regains her composure, after hearing Minato's words. And she shakes her head, tearing her gaze away from the body in their arms.]

L-Let's just get this over with.

[She hasn't met Muraki yet, but it seems she would soon.]

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Life's no fun without a good scare

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threadjaaack if that's okay

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1/2

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