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

[messianic]

[A quiet sigh.]

Her nametag says Cosette, from what I saw, but otherwise...No. She looks like one of the nurses.

[closedcircuit]

I see.

[Ky studies for a moment longer. Then Charlotte...?]

Do you know then if the text a reference to anything from anybody's world in particular or something the killer made up himself?

[messianic]

[He just slowly shakes his head.]

I don't know. If there is a Charlotte here...

We should make sure that she's alright, as fast as possible.

But...we need to protect everyone else too.

[closedcircuit]

Yes. We do.

How can I help?

[ A moment of Ky's thoughts go to Dizzy, but she can certainly take care of herself, and if she can't then Necro and Undine can. To believe otherwise would be too much a shift for his thought process right now. ]

[messianic]

We'll be organizing the defense force and making sure that everyone understands what happened.

[Minato straightens despite himself, shifting into some sort of leader mode, even though his tone is still quiet and rather mild.]

Other than that, we need to find out what happened here and how. That way, we can prevent it from happening again.

[closedcircuit]

Right. So trace back when she was last seen, how long the plaza had been empty, that sort of thing. 

And gather a list of suspects, although that's more difficult to do here. 

[messianic]

...Yes.

It could be anyone, but that's no reason to give up.

We'll try to compile information with the other people looking into this too.

[closedcircuit]

Yes, of course. As important as it is to investigate everything, there are some things that it would be a waste of time to end up investigating twice.

[messianic]

[A slow nod. And then--]

Will you be alright, Kiske-san?

[closedcircuit]

Of course I will be.

And you too, I hope?

[messianic]

[He glances back to the gory scene and sighs quietly. But his response is startlingly firm.]

I'll be fine.

[They have to be fine, so that they can protect everyone.]

Good luck with everything. If you need any help...you know where to find me.

[closedcircuit]

Likewise.