Week 4.

[trustharder]

WEEK 4 And as the third week in the Vault comes to a close and the fourth week begins, the Survivors are once again down by two. Mion Sonozaki died on her own terms, and Yato died fulfilling his duty as God of Fortune in the best way that he knew how; the shrine built in the game room on Saturday stands in their memory. Saturday is given to regrouping and sleep; there aren't any bodies to be found on Sunday morning. But that doesn't mean the night was uneventful - it seems something else may have brought you some newfound clarity. Or perhaps not... Once again, that spiral staircase leads farther than you remember, clear up to a previously inaccessible fourth floor. Go ahead and explore as much as you like; even if the Kingmaker sounded a bit unhappy with you last weekend, the fact remains that you're still doing what you seem to have been brought here to do. SURVIVORS REMAINING: 21 SURVIVORS REMAINING: 20

SUNDAY | MONDAY | TUESDAY | WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY
[OOC: Welcome to week two of Trustfell! Save your threads for coins and the coming week's activity check; don't forget to check in to this week's activity check and submit your memory regains!

The text and calling posts are still active, for the sake of contacting the jerk who's keeping you here, to be used at your leisure!]

Comments

Retaliation

[kingmakereffect]

[And when morning dawns on Monday everything seems quiet; the day starts as usual, with klaxons blaring and the usual level of annoyance and vague acceptance that comes with them going off at seven in the morning, and the remaining Survivors are more than welcome to begin going about their day.

However.

Anyone making their way up to the third floor will notice the heavy scent of blood coming from the game room in particular; anyone investigating will see...well.

It's a lot of blood. Pretty much an entire human's worth of blood, actually.

It's not just limited to the floor, either - some of it's hit the nearby walls in the corner where the apparent incident happened; the odd thing is the pattern. It's radiating outward, as though something (someone) had simply exploded in there. There wasn't any sort of noise the night before to indicate that having been the case, granted, but from appearances alone that's all that really can be determined - somebody was there, and then somebody was everywhere, and whatever caused it was both spontaneous and bizarrely silent.

One of the tables nearest the door seems to have been largely untouched; there's a pair of goggles set up on it, the lenses spattered with blood. Next to them is a note, pinned to the table with one of the butterfly knives from the machine, the blade slammed into the table at a perpendicular angle.

The conclusion is obvious; doing a headcount among the rest of you will confirm it.

Taichi Yagami is dead.

As for the note? It's handwritten, though the writing doesn't match anyone's that's currently in the Vault. The message on it is brief and simple:

DON'T SLEEP OUTSIDE THE DORMS.]

Re: Retaliation

[sleepingkogoro]

[Mouri doesn't take long to go to the Third Floor. He's bringing with him a couple trinkets he obtained long ago, thinking it would be good to decorate the shrine just a tad further. Maybe even offer a wish and leave a tribute to Yato.

Instead he finds a massacre.

Mouri takes just long enough to check the evidence around. Taichi, he seemed like a good kid. He...made a mistake, if the note is correct. Mouri leaves everything untouched and stands outside, pale and clenching his fists.

This was absolutely gruesome.

If you are approaching the Game Room you'll find Mouri beside the door]

Hey! Don't go in! Save yourself the trouble.

[Yeah, that's all he's going to be doing for a few hours, other than ineffectively texting the Kingmaker without receiving an answer. If you ask he'll offer you a summary of what he thinks happened and hope that's enough.

Nobody should ingrain in their minds that ugly scene]

[garudynamic]

[He had intended to set up the shrine yesterday, but after his breakdown he didn't have the energy. But damn it, he was going to do so today! Aqua even said she'd help him.

No breakfast just yet, he wanted to get the measurement of the space so he could sketch something out while he ate.

...

He almost walks right past Mouri, only to be stopped by the detective. But it's not enough for him not to see the gore. And to see the goggles.

Taichi

He just stares, eye blown open to the point there's only a thin ring of brown left.]

[sleepingkogoro]

Hanamura-kun!

[Damn it! Mouri should have stood further than outright to the side of the door. This is precisely what he wanted to avoid! And of all people Yosuke was the one to get an eyeful of the mess.

What a failure preventing anyone from scarring their minds this was.

Mouri gently tries to push Yosuke away to a side so not even a glimpse of the blood is seen, but it's too late]

There's nothing to be done.

[The detective is more than ready for Yosuke to freak out and damn how is he going to deal with that]

[garudynamic]

[He doesn't resist Mouri moving him, like a small child being adjusted here and there]

I.... what?

[ignorantly]

[ Shirazu was going to pay the shrine a quick visit, but he notices the smell of blood prickling his nose on his way up and Mouri's words make him stop in his tracks before he catches a glimpse of the bloody mess. ]

...What happened?

[ Okay, so it's obvious that somebody died, but who is it and why. ]

[sleepingkogoro]

[Mouri think his words carefully. The less people who see this, the better, but a bad choice of words would make Shirazu want to see. Maybe]

Yagami-kun...the kid with the huge goggles...broke a rule and the Kingmaker didn't like it. He's dead.

Don't go in. There...is not even a body left. Save yourself the trouble.

[ignorantly]

That son of a--

[ He grits his teeth, clenching his hands into fist. He doesn't move, simply just seething with anger. Goddammit, Kingmaker. ]

[captainobnoxious]

[C'mon, Sigrun's seen her fair share of blood, peeking in despite his warning doesn't do a thing to her expression.

Like, the explanation might, but most important is the note.]

Well, guess I get to tell bombshell we're not experimenting with that anytime soon. Kind of reminds me of the time one of the trolls just up and went ka-BOOM like a popped zit.

[sleepingkogoro]

Aeeooogh! Why did you have to say that?!

[Way to make Mouri recoil. Way to make him picture the exact moment of Taichi's death, you jerk]

[captainobnoxious]

[SIGRUN IS HERE TO RUIN LITERALLY EVERYONE'S APPETITES.]

Because it's true. Can you get those goggles for me when everyone's had their share of mourning with them? And the place is cleaned up, I guess.

[isafraid]

[Speedwagon had much the same idea, heading up with one thing or another that would have been added to the shrine... had this terrible situation not come about.

Not that he knows about it yet. He's just moving down the hall when he stops and notices Mouri at the door. It's not enough that he could smell something in the air, but the detective stopping him makes the tension that more noticeable.]

What? Detective, what is it? What's wrong?

[why does he get the nagging feeling that he won't like it.]

[sleepingkogoro]

The kid with the goggles is dead. The Kingmaker killed him because Yagami-kun slept outside of his room.

[Wince]

...I'm not sure if you should hear the exact cause of death or see what happened. It isn't pretty.

[isafraid]

What? You're kidding!

[And against all better judgement, Speedwagon pushes past Mouri to get a look.

There's instant regret. Just the fact he couldn't recognize it was Taichi from the blood explosion just makes this whole turn of events just worse, doesn't it?]

What the hell?! How could the Kingmaker just do this to someone?

[ratingspoint]

Detective...?

[It's as much a question as an acknowledgement that Mouri's there, the "what the hell happened" is obvious from his tone.

It's obvious that Mouri's trying to keep people out for a reason, so he'll stop before he can really see what's going on; no sense in doing something stupid before he knows why it's stupid, after all.]

[sleepingkogoro]

The kid with the goggles is dead.

...he exploded, and the Kingmaker is the culprit.

[Yeah, if there's someone Mouri has the impression would be able to understand it is Mettaton, due to, um, the whole "no body left" thing.

And also because Mettaton is kind of a jackass when death is involved]

[ratingspoint]

[...Well, that's...]

How?

[...That's a really morbid question, hang on, that's not quite what he meant- ]

People don't just explode for no reason, sweetheart - do you want me to take a look at it, I specialize in...

[...]

...Well, in things blowing up.

[amygdalae]

[sleep hasn't been coming easy for Bruce since the trial, and even his dreams aren't going to help with that any time soon. He makes an attempt to though, only if because he doesn't want to disturb King, but once it's close enough to the morning alarm Bruce gets out and makes his way to the game room once more.

...the sight that greets him is, well. It's certainly not pleasant.

There's something that he needs to feel, he knows, but he's still too emotionally drained to really be able to make himself feel anything. What he does think though is to clean up the mess, which is why he heads to the laundry room to get what is needed.

It takes a while, and when Bruce returns with everything in hand detective Mouri is already there. The obvious choice would probably be to retreat, but...]

...I'm going in to clean up the mess.

[His words are quiet and soft as he addresses the other, but his expression just screams how tired he is.]

[sleepingkogoro]

...it is pretty obvious the Kingmaker left this all as a message for us all. The note and the fact that kid isn't around anymore would have been enough, all that blood is too cruel.

Go ahead, if you do want to clean.

[It's going to be a much less gruesome message and that'd be great]

Hm, also, please be careful with the goggles. I promised to give them to Eide-san later.

[amygdalae]

I will.

[...Bruce just isn't going to question about the goggles because really, he's way too tired to deal with that.

Just excuse him now Mouri, he'll bring all the cleaning materials in so that he can start on his valiant attempt to clean up the place.]

[bloodisthicker]

[...well it's laundry day, apparently, so it's time to shake off that hangover and head to the third...floor...

Sometimes, you've gotta make a statement. You have to look inside yourself and say WHAT AM I PREPARED TO DEAL WITH TODAY? NOT FUCKING THIS.

...and then you ignore that statement and prepare to investigate anyway. Tarrlok tries to avoid stepping in the amazingly large amounts of blood to get over to the only thing resembling a weapon here, which is the knife pinning the note to the table, and just...

Just...]

...how disproportionate can you possibly be!?

[goodforsomething]

[Stan's on hand to take the note next, because while he's got a killer hangover, this is not the kind of thing you can just ignore.]

...are you fucking kidding me?

[notjustawriter]

[This is.... very difficult to ignore.]

Jesus Christ.

[goodforsomething]

Over a nap?

[bloodisthicker]

This is it, I guess! This is the new reality. Don't take a nap anywhere but your room or you'll explode.

...it's too early for this, I'm just going to go do my laundry.