HEARTS IN DARKNESS: THE BODY

[yourkeepers]

The body glimmers as the light spreads over its features, like a statue of precious metals stained with blood. Golden hair soaks in a pool of red that paints the floor like a canvas, extending out around the head and shoulders of the victim, still lazily seeping and expanding.

It's the body of the the oracle, and she is very much dead.

Her entire throat and chest is a mess of gore. The blood coats the skin and cloth so that it's hard to make out details, but there is one thing certain - something has cut deep into her chest cavity, as it carving something out from inside.

The body is still warm, but you never heard her scream.

Comments

FINDING THE BODY

[yourkeepers]

[This will be a free for all, single thread of people stumbling across the body. After initially finding it, you can feel free to split off into separate threads.]

Re: FINDING THE BODY

[hand_of_courage]

[He hated sleeping. Every time he woke up there was sense of panic in his chest and the worry that, for some reason, a significant amount of time he hadn't tracked had passed. This night was no exception. It was not a pleasant waking and as he started to explore, he grew more worried that he had not actually awoken. That he was in a dream.

Finding her, her shining, golden and white body ripped open... it had to be a nightmare. He knelt down to touch her skin and knew that it was very, very real. She was still warm. It had only just happened. He couldn't save her, but he could find the killer.

And he could kill them.]

[subtleserenity]

[There's more than one person wandering looking for answers. When she notices a glow that doesn't belong to Lights, Brimstone's drawn to it. Another corpse, this one definitely dead. She recognizes the girl from passing knowledge of the other house residents, but she's no one particularly important to Brimstone.

The manner of her death and the cruelty of it, though, are something to worry about. Murdered. It's the first thought to enter her mind. But why? And what purpose would carving her up like that serve?]

We need to find Copper. She's got a nose might be able to sniff out whoever's done this.

[They also need to check on a few things in the secret room. That cruel little dagger is foremost in her mind.]

SPIDER ENCOUNTER | FOR LINK, ELSWORD, AND RAVEN

[intothehedge]

[At the call of their mother's name, it's not Nancy but instead three of her children that appear. They are each roughly the size of a cat, and appear along the sides of neighbouring bookshelves.

They squeak at Tick Tock excitedly, raising their front legs in greeting.]

Re: SPIDER ENCOUNTER | FOR LINK, ELSWORD, AND RAVEN

[hand_of_courage]

[Despite the anger and the desperate pain of having failed the most important person in his life (who was she to him to feel like that?), Tick Tock still managed to give the three a pleasant smile in greeting as he stopped and knelt down to extend his free hand toward them.]

Hi. How are you three today?

[knightwinged]

[ At the spiders' appearances, 'Shadow' just sort of freezes and makes a quiet, strangled sort of sound. If he were human he'd probably be blanching, even though he has absolutely no idea why, but the realization that these might be the aforementioned Nancy's children leaves him very, very unsettled.

Because while these are small enough and he could probably. Keep calm enough given a moment or two. But if these are her children, then what of Nancy herself...?

Yeah he's just gonna sort of edge back into a darker patch of shadow maybe, he can get through this... ]

FINDING THE BODY

[heirred]

Coolkid meanwhile is in the corner, away from everyone's light and ruckus, sitting quietly hidden in the shadows. He'd seen death before, mostly been the one causing it before he'd woken here, like this. Still, the sight of her bloody corpse, something in it shakes him. Death wasn't supposed to happen here, not in the dark and not by secret. The master was here, protecting them, that had how it'd always been before. He never thought, or stopped to think of the danger they could be in.

[nosentimentalist]

"Hey."

Don't mind the typewriter coming up next to you, Coolkid. Although he may be a jerk most of the time, this isn't the time or place to make a snarky remark. This is a death, and although it doesn't bother him too greatly, he understands how hard it is for mostly everyone else.

"You alright?"

[planted_blade]

The sword stared blankly at the scene before her, her grip on her hilt tightening. If she were made of flesh and blood her knuckles would have gone white with how tight she held herself. There was a tightness in her throat and chest.

She had spoken to this woman when she first woke up, seen her around the Manor over the last few days, had sworn to protect everyone.

First the gargoyle, and now the Oracle. She's a sword meant to protect people. How can she protect anyone if she couldn't even hear this woman scream?

Slowly, she approaches the body and tries to ignore how hard it is to even speak as she kneels beside her.

INVESTIGATIONS

[yourkeepers]

[State what aspect of the scene your character is investigating, and you will possibly receive clues!]

Re: INVESTIGATIONS

[hand_of_courage]

[After leaning his head down to press an apologetic kiss to her forehead, the Timekeeper is going to search for a blood trail.]

[yourkeepers]

[There IS a blood trail, but given the quantity of blood it is surprisingly short. Trace amounts of blood mark the floor for only about ten feet, before they disappear all together.

With enough light, he will observe a pair of faint scorch marks on the ground where the blood trail terminates.]

Re: INVESTIGATIONS

[justbeclaws]

[The typewriter urges her friendly neighborhood light source closer, and tries to peel back bloodstained fabric to get a better look at the wound(s).]

[yourkeepers]

[The most obvious feature is that the throat has been slashed, ostensibly by some sort of blade. There is a deep wound in the bottom of her chin as well - as if someone has thrust a point straight up through her throat and into her head. They definitely wanted her to die, and quickly.]

[The torso is harder to make out, but if the typewriter is persistent enough that she is willing to dig through gored flesh, she will find the ribcage itself but open and the heart missing.]

Re: INVESTIGATIONS

[ironspirit]

[Considering Sword Arms' resume includes "being a flaming sword" and "frequently setting fire to various objects", he's gonna investigate the shit out of those scorch marks.]

[yourkeepers]

There's only so much about them that can be concluded at the moment. They are fairly faint - whatever heat grazed the wood couldn't have been there for long. They are side by side, spaced in a manner that could resemble...a standing person's footprints?

[nosentimentalist]

[Once he gets to the scene, he'll be investigating if she had anything on her- he's not grossed out by the mutilation at all, so he'll be discretely patting the cloth and checking her hands to see if there's anything on her person.]

[yourkeepers]

Besides her regular clothing, she doesn't seem to be carrying anything of note. The only thing obviously taken from her person is her heart.

[infernoandhearth]

[The kitchen fire is just going to walk over and take a look at whether there's anything indicating that the blood trail was caused by the corpse's blood, or if possibly the blood is additionally from an outside source.]

[yourkeepers]

The "trail" seems specifically tracked from the blood from the corpse. No signs indicate a second blood source, as far as he can tell. There is also no real sign of a struggle, beyond the wounds. The death was probably quick.

[hourglassfigure]

Satandir came as soon as she heard there was a corpse, but she doesn't have a hell of a lot to offer by way of investigation – except to wonder, looking around the room, if the slain oracle is, perhaps, still there in something other than corporeal form. She calls for her a few times, and cheerfully encourages her to give some kind of sign if she's watching.

[subtleserenity]

When they find the obsidian dagger missing from its place in the secret room in the Hearth Room, Brimstone's going to check if there's anything else missing. She's very glad she and Lights hid those potions and herbs now. She'll also try to check if it seems anyone's done something to the corpse in here.

[hondsdol]

[The wolf will be frantically searching for smells of any kind that appear at all unusual.]

[fuzzyduck]

[Copper is reluctantly sniffing out the body as well, specifically hoping to catch the scent of the murderer or wherever they may have gone. Sure, it's a long shot, but it would be nice to get straight to business.]

[heirred]

Mituna is going to look in the oracle to see if he can find Sollux's heart in there.