First.

[trustharder]

Friday dawns much like the rest of the week before it – that is to say, obnoxiously. The klaxons are as loud as ever first thing in the morning, and anyone wandering out into the main corridor will be pleased to know that- ...Oh. It's a straight shot down the hallway, meaning that everyone's line of sight is likely to be immediately drawn to the unholy mess going on past the threshold leading to the dorms. There's some hints that someone may have been busy out here last night – for one thing, there's a chair lying on the ground for god only knows what reason. That's obviously not supposed to be there. Come on, guys, clean up after yourselves. Of course, there's also a fucklot of blood. That's probably important. It seems concentrated on the far end of the hallway, closer to the elevator than the dorms. There's also a large trail of it leading somewhere. That's probably also important. Despite everyone's best efforts to keep themselves busy and optimistic about escape, looks like somebody got restless last night. >Explore?

Comments

[ignorantly]

[ Even if he was allowed to, Shirazu wouldn't want to stay near the body. He doesn't want to look at it.

He wants to go back to his room and cry, to be honest. But he can't do that, he needs to investigate and search for clues. So what's up over here? Anything out of place? ]

[spearheaded]

[ might as well stick to what you know. she found zagi here the first day, before things went awry — so pearl is here going through the stacks, looking for anything amiss, really wishing she had access to her spear.

she sees shirazu, and calls out to him. ]

You shouldn't be here. It's— It's dangerous for a human.

[ and for a pearl, too, but you know. saving humanity and all. ]

[ignorantly]

I... [ His hands tighten at his sides. He takes a few deep breaths. ] I wanna look for clues.

[trustharder]

[Well, there sure is stuff to note! There's duct tape everywhere. The walls, the floor, the chairs... it looks like someone went to town in here. Is this some kind of modern art display? Who the fuck knows.

There are also some books duct taped to the walls. Because you know. #aesthetic.]

[ignorantly]

[ ....He can't think of a single response to this that isn't "what the fuck?"

Okay, let's... take a closer look at the books on the walls. ]

[trustharder]

[Those sure are books. Some of them are just pressed to the wall and then taped in place, others are open and suspended there by tape. Why is this a thing.]

[penduli]

[ Why isn't the library safe--no, no, he kind of figure by all the blood by the elevator side of things the library wouldn't be good, but

anyway.

Black's a big reader, and he's been in here a more than a couple of times to pick up books and give them a good read. He'll be looking at the open ones!

Are they open to any pages/passages that might be important to note, or is it just sort of random? ]

[trustharder]

[It's definitely random. Most of the books seem to be thick and on the less-interesting side. Aqua will probably be glad to know that none of the ghost stories have been touched.]

[penduli]

[ So it's just #aesthetic. Good to know! ]

[prismbloom]

[ ??? ]

... Duct tape, of all things?

[ Well. okay. She'll see if she can peel some of that duct tape of the floor.... ]

[trustharder]

[Good call! You'll find two rolls of duct tape.]

[prismbloom]

[ ..... ]

Whoever did this had enough time to put all of this down. [ Mostly she's speaking aloud, but it might be beneficial to Pearl and Shirazu? Who knows.

Is there anything stuck to the duct tape? ]

[trustharder]

[Nope, the duct tape is clean. One of the rolls has been slightly more used than the other, but they've clearly both been used and neither are close to running out.]

[prismbloom]

[ uh well that's.

She'll put them to the side and... focus on the duct-taped chairs. Anything to note here? ]

[trustharder]

[Nope. It looks just as random as everything else in this library. You've found all the important clues here!]

[spearheaded]

[ oh aqua's here too now. but she's still lecturing shirazu, so she'll ignore her for a moment!! ]

I understand how you might feel, but you should really leave this to.. [ well. they certainly stumbled across something. ] adults..

What in the world could this be for?

[ignorantly]

But I want to help. [ He says this firmly. ] And investigating things is part of my job. I can do this.

[ Though investigating ghouls is nothing like investigating a murder... ]

[spearheaded]

[ a long, deep sigh. ]

.. Fine. Provided you stay away from the body. [ not that she can really tell anyone what to do here. ] The rest of us are probably searching the other rooms. We should focus on why all this— all this tape is here for discussion later.

[prismbloom]

[ ...

She stands up, looking over at Pearl. ]

The duct tape is clean, which is the strangest part. It seems like whoever put it here did it just because they could.

[spearheaded]

There's no.. blood on it, so I imagine he wasn't taken out here and then moved. But why? It just seems like a juvenile prank.

[ all these people wanting to defile the library ]

[prismbloom]

I can't think of any reason, other than the murderer wanting to distract us, somehow.

It seems... excessive.

[ Those poor books. ]

[spearheaded]

Yes.. though I'd argue the entire act is excessive.

[ murder and all. they could have done it.. far more mercifully, if they really felt the need to do it at all. ]

We may just have to compare it to whatever else the others find. I can't seem to make sense of it like this.

[prismbloom]

Neither can I--it seems so out of place. [ ... ] Let's convene with the others, and see what they've found.