WEEK 12 - INVESTIGATION

[al2955]

the pygmalion. . . ONLINE CAPTAIN'S LOG: WEEK (12)

friday (?) survivors Friday comes with no corpses in sight yet. With Alice and most of the ship's power offline, there's no alarm to rouse you all from your sleep. You can choose to stay where you are or to leave it, but regardless, there is no longer a safe haven on this ship. taken list profiles setting rulebook ENTER COMMAND_

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[tevinteriscoming]

[Never mind on the staff, then. He will be appropriately concerned about that in a minute, and he will give Grell a shake in a minute, but right now he's scrambling over to where Jessie is lying. He assumes she's dead, but checking for a pulse and then injuries anyway.]

Grell, wake up now. It's Jessie.

[He's taking this at least somewhat in stride, getting to work examining the body despite his pounding headache. Being able to function immediately after waking up groggy and ill - he's trained for this.]

[erythristic]

What about Jessie?

[sitting up, she puts a hand to her face to wipe away the water. her makeup is still in place (thank you, Judar), but something is not. something familiar that she needs.

not on her face. not on her skirt. not around her, if her frantic feeling for it isn't lying to her.]

I can't-no.

[she can't see. not well enough to get by or examine a body unless she's right up close to it. she needs her glasses, and the fear that comes with that is stronger than the drug's daze. and that's why Dorian will hear her say words she never lets out in public.]

Fucking hell. Shit. Fuck.

[al2955]

[When Dorian turns over Jessie's body, he'll notice that her throat has been deeply slit. He won't be able to find a pulse. Aside from that, she doesn't appear to have any other visible injuries on her.

Next to her body is a familiar robot arm. Not so familiar is the blade that has been slid out from the wrist of the arm and heavily stained with blood.

The hand also has one middle finger sticking up. What could this message possibly mean!!]

[tevinteriscoming]

[Goodness, he couldn't say. Could it be a clue pointing them down the hall to the killer? At any rate, the presence of the robot arm is troubling, but he's much more troubled by the body of a woman he'd considered a friend in his arms, and the frantic shouting of another dear friend nearby.]

What's wrong? Are you hurt?

[He moves away from the body for just a moment to turn to her; Jessie is dead but Grell is still alive and might need help. She's usually so calm in these times, so the panic is alarming. In the confusion, he's yet to notice the absence of his staff.]

[erythristic]

My glasses, I can't see!

[breathe, she has to breathe, but Jessie was there with them and even though her head still felt like a brick she has to think. she can't hear Jessie. not at all. yet she'd been there, before the blacking out.

the last time she had been blinded like this, no one had been at risk of dying. it had been annoying, but it hadn't been as tense a situation as this is. now it's a real weakness, instead of a difficulty. it's why she slept with them so close, never took them off without their safety being assured.]

Do you see them anywhere?

[please. don't let this be as bad as the fear is making it out to be.]

[al2955]

[Her glasses don't appear to be anywhere in the vicinity. Neither does Arbok, though Jessie's pokeball is still on her body.]

[tevinteriscoming]

[Well, that's less concerning than he expected, but still concerning. He looks around.]

I don't see -- oh, Kaffas. [It's not exactly unusual to swear himself, but this time it's a little tense.] My staff is gone as well. Someone thought of everything.

[On a whim, he goes over to Jessie to see if anything is missing. He'll find the Pokeball and will try pressing the button on it.]

[erythristic]

They meant to cripple us.

[the words are practically spat out as she absorbs the situation - it's only slightly better than her fear thinks, because an absence is not the glasses smashed into pieces, her eyesight gone without a chance of recovery. the same goes for Dorian's staff - it's gone, but not snapped in two lying next to them, utterly beyond a chance.

deep breathing. deep breathing and standing shakily, holding onto the nearest wall. she wants to scream about how utterly unfair it is, but if it was her, she'd do the same thing. maybe there will be time to extract pity from some people and soothe herself that way.]

How did she die?

[is all that red blood, or Jessie's hair?]

[al2955]

[Nothing happens when Dorian pushes the button of the Pokeball.

Additonally, now that they're both up and more aware, they'll likely notice a large splatter of what appears to be acid eating through the corridor wall somewhere between five and six feet up.]

[tevinteriscoming]

They haven't managed it. [Gently, though a little distantly as he walks slowly over towards the acid splatter to get a better look at it.] A staff is a tool that helps me use my magic, but the magic is mine and can't be stolen. Likewise, it is your mind that has seen us through many a trial, though your sight may have helped.

Her throat was cut. And Arbok...there's something on the wall over here. Acid.

[erythristic]

[thanks, Dorian, for knowing the right thing to say. it reassures her on two levels - one that her friend would have to face such an indignity thus soothed by knowing he's alright, and the other being the quiet fear she wouldn't speak of that without her sight she wouldn't be able to assist in trial. bracing words, like a pillar at one's back. though she doesn't say anything, it does calm her down, and she hopes he knows on some level that she's grateful for it, that she'd reach out to him if they weren't bloody and recovering from being knocked out.

in regards to Jessie, there's not much they can do for a cut throat. nothing except that they're going to have to be the ones to bring in her body when it comes time. but her snake?]

Is there a sign of his body? If not...he could have run away. And if that acid hit his assailant, it might have left marks. And what else do you see?

[al2955]

[The splatter is still fairly wet and dripping. There aren't any other signs of Arbok in the hall.]

[tevinteriscoming]

No sign of the body, but it looks fresh. Ah, yes, and incidentally, Jack's arm is here. There's a knife attached, seems to be the murder weapon. Not looking like a great sign.

[He'll pace around the room to try to see if there's anything else he can spot, and then turn his attention to the body.]

We ought to bring it to the conference room, I should think. Are you up for carrying it, or shall we wait?

[erythristic]

I can carry it in. It's not that far.

[she remembers where they are - mentally, she thinks of where things should be in the room. bending down near the body, she reaches out, using touch more than her eyesight to slide an arm behind Jessie's shoulders. from there it's easy to take her legs, and she'll listen for Dorian so she can follow behind him.]

The arm as well. It's evidence now. Though I've no doubt that when he wakes up Jack will come stumbling out of wherever he is demanding it back.

[because as proven by Rhys, you can take off a robo arm and live.]

[tevinteriscoming]

[Ah. He didn't mean to make her carry it all herself. But as she's doing that, he'll pick up the arm, and then he places his other hand lightly against her back, to help guide her.

Since I didn't think of it earlier, he snaps a picture on his datapad of the scene before she picks up the body.]

I wouldn't be so sure. Jessie and Jack being chosen is hardly a coincidence.

[erythristic]

[it's a reflex, because she's strong enough to carry the body. but she does appreciate the guidance, seeing as her hands are full and she can't use the walls to be her pathway. she'll follow his lead, but she does gain an quiet, unreadable expression at the mention of Jack.]

Do you think he's also dead?

[not just injured, dealing with it somewhere. the sensible conclusion is that he's dead with his arm removed from his body, and Jessie dead with it, but she...Jack simply seemed unkillable with all his boasts and bluster and confidence. it didn't seem like it would ever happen as misfortune befell the rest of them.]

[tevinteriscoming]

I don't see why, if they bothered to take his arm, they wouldn't have killed him. He was a threat.

[Carefully leading them to the conference room, to lay Jessie's body out on the table. Since it's already bloodstained anyway, he'll pull off his cloak and gently lay it over her body, to preserve her a little dignity. Besides, it's fitting - like all his cloaks, it has a snake pattern over the back.]

But maybe he's survived all the same. One never knows with Jack.