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

[ironspirit]

Oh.

[Laughing nervously.]

Man, she must be one big spider, huh...

[intothehedge]

[One of them eyes Sword Arms with a similar amount of scrutiny. The hops off of the book shelf and skitters across the floor to his legs.

Another proceeds to make more squeaking noises, crawling around on the surface of to books, and then flailing its arms at the ceiling.]

[hand_of_courage]

Be careful!

[The Timekeeper calls to the one heading towards Swordarms, distracted from the sword's question by the child's action.]

He's very sharp even when he's not trying to be.

[Then his attention returned to the one at the ceiling.]

What's up there?

[ironspirit]

[He takes a step back then decides to just stand very still. They were nice spiders, right? Nothing to be concerned about! Probably. Still kinda gross, though.]

Watch the fire. [Waving his arms a little, in case it wasn't obvious enough that they're on fire.]

[knightwinged]

[ There's another strangled sort of sound; this time it sounds almost (undignifiedly so) like a strained chirp. Well, there goes any attempt at remaining hidden.

A silken rustling drifts through the air before the light sound of talons on stone is heard as he flutters down and lands some wary distance away from the spider that had waved at the ceiling. ]

[intothehedge]

[The spider pauses, and then just opts to stare at the fire in fascination with its multitude of eyes. Meanwhile, the one up on the bookshelf is continuing its theatrics.

It almost seems to shake its spidery head as the squeals something like "nana", and then expels a shrill cry. More spidery eyes appear on shelves a bit further away, submerged in darkness. They squeal back.]

[hand_of_courage]

[Tick Tock stood up, looking over the children before turning to the feathered one that just landed. His eyes narrowed and he held the flaming sword out toward the Raven in a threatening manner.

He wasn't familiar with the shadow and didn't know it had been following, so for all he knew, it was very much a threat.]

Who are you and what do you want?

[ironspirit]

[He's hesitant to take his eyes off the spider, but when the clock starts pointing him at something he notices the bird a few feet away from them. He quickly moves himself to stand between them.]

No, it's okay! That's just my Shadow. [never gonna let that joke/nickname die] He's cool.

... How many children does Nancy have, anyway? [That is a lot of eyes.]

[knightwinged]

Nothing but to watch the one who would wield that sword. [ he hisses back, a distinct chill running through the air despite the firebrand's intervention. It's probably because of such that nothing more happens, in fact, before the raven settles back, albeit with fairly ruffled feathers. ]

How many indeed... [ quietly muttered, craning his head to look around at all the eyes. That's a lot. Too much. ]

[intothehedge]

[The spiders don't seem particularly concerned, and continue skittering around excitedly. Whatever they are reacting to, they seem pretty jazzed about it.]

[hand_of_courage]

[Tick Tock lowered the sword, satisfied for now, and turned back to the children.]

Hundreds, maybe thousands. Too many to count.

[His smile returned as he called out to them again.]

What's going on? Is your mom coming? Is it Miss Nancy?

[ironspirit]

[The raven's words catch him by surprise. His flames flicker as he steals a glance behind him, briefly.

Aww, so he does care (though maybe it was just because he burned stuff a lot when unsupervised...). He grins, then turns his attention back to the spiders. He's a lot less nervous now, seeing as nothing bad has happened.]

Is she up there? [He waves an arm up high, trying to illuminate the dark spots above the shelves.] Hey, Miss Nancy! Are you up there?

[knightwinged]

[ By the time the sword looks, Gloom Bird is not quite at his usual composure but is sufficiently distracted enough so as to seem aloof again. Mostly.

Honestly he's just very concerned at the thought of having missed this 'Nancy' if a) she was a giant spider, and/or b) had been up there with him and he somehow missed it. He'd like to think he didn't miss her. That'd be nice.

Of course, with all the activity the spiderlings are still showing, the chances of that are low, so despite the cessation of any hostile intent toward him he is still very much on edge as he too turns his vision skyward. Ceilingward. Same thing. ]

[intothehedge]

[The spiders continue about their business for a moment, before seemingly noticing that everyone is looking up for some reason. They pause, and then do so themselves, their many eyes blinking into the darkness cluelessly.

Maybe there has been a miscommunication.

However, after a few moments of this, one of them raises their arms again as if something has just occurred to them. They squeal at Tick Tock and the others more urgently, and then leap to the floor and start skittering back in the direction of the oracle's body.]

[hand_of_courage]

[The Timekeeper blinked, then started to follow as the group passed his feet. He had no reason not to follow them.]

[intothehedge]

[When the spiders reach the body, the first couple to arrive start skittering all around the apparent burn marks on the floor, where the blood trail terminates. They definitely seem to be trying to indicate that they have something to say about it.]

[hand_of_courage]

[Tick Tock knelt down next to the marks, holding the flaming sword a few feet over it so there was enough light being cast on it.]

You know something about this?

[ironspirit]

[The firebrand follows as well, with only a slight bit of hesitation. Creepy or not, the spiders might know what happened.

He crouches down when they reach the set of burn marks, keeping a relatively safe distance so as not to set anyone on fire. The extra light probably helps.] It looks kinda like... footprints.

[intothehedge]

[The spiders all start to squeak at those words, as if in disapproval. Then, quickly, they begin skittering towards the Great Hall.]

[hand_of_courage]

[The timekeeper wasn't far behind them. He had no problem sprinting to keep up with the much faster many-legged children. If they knew what the marks belonged to, or where the maker had gone, then the easier it would be to find the killer.]

[ironspirit]

[And suddenly everyone's running off to the grand hall.]

Hey, wait up! [running after the spiders+clock of course, like hell he's losing track of himself on a night like this.]

[intothehedge]

[They head towards the top area of the hall, several of them dispersing into the darkness as they go. They arrive near the base of the watcher gargoyle's stone body, and start digging around in the shadows.

After a few moments, they work together to dig up a torch that's been stashed away their. Its clearly been used recently. The squeal excitedly.]

[hand_of_courage]

[Tick Tock's eyes widen even further as he slows down to watch the spiders work and then lean over to reach out for torch.]

Is this what made the marks?

[intothehedge]

[They squeal louder and even more enthusiastically, apparently pretty pleased with having delivered this conclusion. True spider detectives they are.]

[ironspirit]

So... it was this torch?

[He almost reaches out to touch it as well, but grabbing a torch with flaming sword hands would probably compromise evidence.

He turns his attention to the statue after, holding up a hand to illuminate it (well, him).]

Do you think this statue is a person? It looks kinda out of place.