third investigation

[stagemanagers]

[At the start of Friday, things are surprisingly calm. There’s no blood on the hall carpet, presumably no bodies ready to fall out of a broom closet, nothing especially incriminating when the cast wakes up and emerges from their rooms. It’s possible this time, even with the palpable temptation of the Phantom’s motive, that no one has taken him up on his offer to kill. Maybe later today you won't have to march yourselves into the trial room to decipher clues and watch more of you die.

But the day is young.]

Comments

[isawallflower]

[ Being outside and having Last Night's Everything fresh on her mind, Riley's going to rush over to the sound of the yelling! With Steven in tow, preferably. ]

Dr. Browning?! What's wrong, d-did you find something else...?!

[holyspit]

[He's following! Clutching Spinel's remains in both hands, cause like heck he's leaving her anywhere. He's not gonna be his mom if he can avoid it.]

Oh no, did something else happen?!

[37773972]

[why did it have to be Riley

oh Steven's there too. cool(?)]

That- [and he gestures winces towards the crypt cover] was off when I got here. Can you try and move it a little more so I can check under it?

[isawallflower]

[ Riley's already kinda pale. She goes paler. ]

Who would...? [ But she nods and inches forward, to get the crypt cover off. ] ...If you tried to move these yourself I would've- ...thank you for calling us.

[holyspit]

We can get it.

[OKAY something he can actually help with, great! This is great.]

[He's gonna try to carefully hand Spinel's pieces to Tall Stephen.]

Can you- hang onto her? While we get this. Please.

[And for brevity's sake, once that's handled one way or another he's gonna help Riley with the crypt.]

[stagemanagers]

[The empty crypt, once opened, proves to be slightly less than empty! There's two more fair-sized gem shards in here!]

[37773972]

Thank you for coming.

[Holding he can...sort of do. He's a little surprised at it being referred to as 'her', but he doesn't question, managing to keep the shards cupped to his chest before moving to investigate]

...there's a couple more stone shards in here, but that's it.

[isawallflower]

[ Faintly, Riley murmurs: ] Oh, my God. Just...how many of these are we going to find...?

[holyspit]

Oh.

[That's. This is great.]

Was someone trying to bury her-?

[This is gonna be another really fun trial isn't it.]

[isawallflower]

[ ....Riley's gonna draw this boy in for another hug. ]

[holyspit]

[Yeah, still not fighting it. He's kind of dead and limp, but not fighting it, he can hug back when he's not so dead inside.]

I can- I can take her. Back now, Doctor Browning. Thanks, I- I know you're hurt.

[He's fine he's fine he's fine HE IS NOT FINE but seriously he can hold the rock corpse now that he's not shifting crypt doors.]

[37773972]

[Just gonna manage to pick up the other shards because apparently they're importait

he looks down at them as he offers the pieces back to Steven]

Is this...?

[2+2=...]

[holyspit]

Yeah, that's. It's Spinel.

[Sorry doc you were corpsetouching all along.]

[isawallflower]

[ Her hug tightens. ]

[37773972]

[what the fuck is alien biology]

She- but-

[you know what he's just not even. He Can't. He takes a breath, and sits down back by Sigyn's grave. You know, THE ONE WITH THE FUCKING CRACK.]

I'm gonna need a minute. You kids go ahead.

[holyspit]

[It's magic, much like friendship, only way worse and slightly horrifying.]

Are you sure-? If you're not okay, we can stay.

[To Riley-]

...Right?

[isawallflower]

[ Riley just nods. ]

I don't feel comfortable leaving you out here by yourself.

[37773972]

I'm...

[He's not fine. He's not about to break down - he wasn't particularly close to either Claudine or Spinel - but it's still a loss. Stephen exhales, closing his eyes.]

...I won't stop you guys, but we can't stay out here too long.

[isawallflower]

I know. I just- ...I don't want any of us to be alone for too long.