WEEK THREE - Investigation

[al2955]

the pygmalion. . . ONLINE CAPTAIN'S LOG: WEEK (3)

friday (?) survivors Friday, and the paranoia that comes with it, inches up your spine like a scorpion searching for prey. The circles around your eyes are as black as space itself, and it's difficult to remember how much sleep you have gotten in the last 72 hours. No alarm comes today. Perhaps you are unsure if that is a blessing or a curse. You feel too wary to leave your room, but you know you will have to eventually. You can only stay here for 12 hours. But you become conscious of your vulnerability, more aware of your blindspots. It becomes difficult to move, paralyzing, taxing on your mind to interact with the physical world — you would rather retreat into your thoughts. Tentatively, you leave your safe haven. taken list profiles setting rulebook ENTER COMMAND_

Comments

[allout]

[ she gulps upon noticing adam, but that doesn't seem to be the most that she should worry about at the moment. that dark patch is certainly worrying, but it's not like it can be ignored. ]

Only one way to find out what it is...

[ and with that, she'll approach. ]

[al2955]

[It looks like a small hole has been dug up here, about a foot or so deep and across; something glimmers at the bottom of it.

The surrounding area has clearly been disturbed. The dirt and grass is stained with splashes of blood, and some of the grass and plants nearby has been flattened and crushed. There are also odd patterns in the dirt outside of the hole - it looks patches of it has been pocked with tiny holes.]

[allout]

[ it's not hard to notice the splashes of red against the green grass, and it makes minako let out a shaky sigh. the easy conclusion would be that there's something here, and they'd be discovering it within the next few minutes.

minako is kneeling down as well, examining the bloodstained dirt with her fingers to confirm it without doubt. she'll leave the digging to adelina and adam, but she's still watching. ]

Something happened here.

[bloodbiter]

[she's reaching to grab whatever it is that's glimmering, carefully pulling it out with a frown and examining it.]

That much is clear.

[antietam]

Be careful. It could be a trap.

[ Adam is more interested in the small holes around the crushed plants (you monsters). Does it look like soil subsidence or are they finger-sized? ]

[al2955]

[The dirt's definitely bloodstained. Once Minako gets up close to it, she'll notice what appears to be a couple of partial footprints left in the dirt; only the front half of the footprints are visible, as the rest of the dirt has been smoothed over.

It looks like Adelina's grabbed a pair of dogtags on a chain. The dogtags are bloodstained, but the name on them is still visible - they read RALEIGH BECKETT.

Neither - the tiny holes are spread out in an uneven pattern, go fairly deep into the dirt, and are about the size of a ballpoint tip. ]

[allout]

[ if that's not a clue, she's not sure what is. she'll definitely be getting up close and personal to examine them, being careful not to disturb them - she wants to try and see what the sole looks like and estimate how big it is. ]

Be careful if you guys step here. There's footprints.

[bloodbiter]

[after reading the name on the dogtags, she squints slightly, turning to the others.]

Raleigh Beckett was the name of the last victim, was it not?

[antietam]

Yeah. [ He glances over, the dogtags catching his eye. ] Weren't those taken?

[ He can't say for sure. But going back to the small holes, he's going to count how many there are first, try to memorize the pattern, then dig one up to see if there's anything there. ]

[al2955]

[It's hard to tell with only partial footprints, but it's large enough that it was likely made by a men's shoe.

There's a lot of small holes, maybe near a hundred or so - too many for Adam to count. The pattern's spread out over a couple of feet. When he digs one up, he'll find a tiny pellet made of what appears to be some kind of red-colored metal.]

[allout]

Yeah... But what the heck are those doing in a place like this?

[ taking note of the shoe size, she'll rise up to move and see what adam is looking at. ]

What did you find?

[bloodbiter]

Evidently they were taken. The question is, by who?

[glancing over to peek at adam's findings as well]

[antietam]

I'm... not sure. [ To both questions. He picks one up with his sleeve, holding it up to the light and to the two of them as well. Is there anything else to note about it? ]

Have you seen something like this before? Could it have come from the turret?

[al2955]

[The pellet's in the shape of a tiny ball. Other than that, doesn't seem like there's anything else to note about it.]

[allout]

[ for a moment minako's eyes shift to the evoker on her hip, but they're back on the pellet just as quickly. ]

No, I haven't... But that sounds like it would make sense! A turret is a rapid fire thing, right? There's no way someone could shoot that much on their own.

[ she's quiet for a moment. ]

I guess the next big question is where all of the blood came from.

[bloodbiter]

I see no body... I assume it was moved. If that is the case, someone will doubtlessly find it quickly.

[antietam]

Probably. I wonder if there's more. [ He'll get up and start looking around in the proximity of all the blood. He'll check the tools too. Anything missing? ]

[al2955]

[There doesn't seem to be anything missing from the toolshed, but one of the shovels appears to be dented.

If they're all looking around, one of them may notice something in the grass about fifteen feet or so away from the scene.]

[allout]

[ moving the body out of somewhere so big doesn't seem likely, especially since she didn't see anything disturbed at the entrance of the gardens when she came in. she was about to speak up about it, but something catches her eye first. ]

Guys... Over there.

[ she'll point in the general direction that is fifteen feet away, and won't hesitate to jog over to it. ]

[bloodbiter]

[as soon as minako indicates the object, she looks that way and follows her over to see what it is.]

[antietam]

Geez. [ GEEZ the poor shovel. He grabs it with a glove, but hurries out when Minako calls them over. He brings the shovel along just in case. ]

[al2955]

[It looks like two pieces of metal, both about three inches long. If any of them are familiar with firearms, they'll recognize them as bullet shells.]

[allout]

[ minako is familiar with firearms to an extent - mostly because she's seen several people killed by them, and appears to have one on her hip.

but she'll kneel down and take one of them in her hands, examining them with a furrowed brow. ]

They're bullet shells. [ and to adam: ] Does it look like they match what you found?

[bloodbiter]

[while minako asks adam about the shells, adelina looks around the area again just to see if there's anything else noticeably amiss.]

[antietam]

This is what I was telling you. About guns. [ To Adelina.

Then he'll compare the pellet and the bullet shell. Could they have come from the same place? Does the length of it suggest a firearm larger than a handgun? ]