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]

[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.

[hand_of_courage]

That's the gargoyle. His other body.

[The clock replied to the question as he examined the torch.]

He's been there since I first woke up. Him up here and me way down there.

[He pointed down into the darkness toward where his body stood keeping the time.

After a moment, he knelt down and offered an arm out to the spider children.]

Thank you for showing me this. I don't know how much it will help, but I'm sure it will at least a little. You should get to safety in case the killer is still around. I don't want any of you to get hurt.

[intothehedge]

[The spiders chirp appreciatively and are quick to pile onto the clock. What spider doesn't appreciate a piggy back ride? They squeal in anticipation of the trip back.]

[ironspirit]

[He squints at the gargoyle. He does remember seeing one before, but this one looks different...

also he's glad he's too on fire to have spiders crawling on him.]

Maybe he knows something about what happened? If the killer was hiding stuff around his body he might have felt them around.

[hand_of_courage]

[The timekeeper had no issue with the spiders as he turned on his heal to head back to the library.]

Maybe. It's the best idea we have right now. We'll have to find him.