first investigation

[stagemanagers]

[Happy Friday, everyone! The end of a long week of traumatizing motives, meetings that become Come to Jesus meetings and a menagerie of cafe cryptids. All things considered, not a bad second week in a murder school.


The school feels calm and quiet as everyone rouses themselves from sleep but quiet can be awfully deceiving.]

Comments

[employeeoftheyear]

[Spongebob, naturally, is one of the first people who wakes up, and expecting absolutely nothing wrong whatsoever he makes a beeline for the kitchen to start making breakfast.]

[stagemanagers]

[There are some things amiss in the kitchen but that's a later problem! Nicely body-free tho.]

[employeeoftheyear]

[Heck yeah!

He starts prepping and finds out he’s ahead of schedule for once so he decides to head to the boys locker room to freshen up.]

[stagemanagers]

[Oh.

Oh Spongeboy, me bob.

Walking into the boys' locker room, something feels immediately off. Someone is laid out on one of the locker room benches, bundled up as if the locker room was freezing cold and they'd preferred to sleep here instead of their bed.]

[employeeoftheyear]

[That

That isn’t good. Even Spongebob can tell this. A part of him wants to just leave and hope that this just someone who fell asleep in the locker.

But he swallows and instead gently moves the body.]

H-hey sleepyhead, it’s morning!

[stagemanagers]

[The sleeper doesn't wake up but with Spongebob gently nudges the body the scarf hiding most of their face falls away, revealing damp dark hair and a familiar pale face.

Mumble Happyfeet is dead.]

[employeeoftheyear]

[Spongebob stares

And stares

And then he screams. He screams more intensely than he ever has before. And he doesn’t stop.]

[howtheworldwas]

[ Eurydice hears that scream loud and clear from the next room over and dashes in, still holding her can of beans.

Which she drops, when she sees the body on the bench.

She rushes over to Spongebob and, once she knows he can see her, takes his shoulder, like she did in the costume room the other day. ]

Shh. Shh. What happened?

[wanderlusttitania]

[Sissi had just finished her lap in the gym, and is in the doorway to the hall when she hears it. Immediately she turns back, picks up her skirts and runs to the source.]

MONSIEUR-!?

[comeandfindme]

[ Peregrine's hot on her heels. While Eurydice takes Spongebob, Peregrine goes to the body, upon which she freezes.

Damp hair. All wrapped up, like he was cold.

All at once, Peregrine's not here. She's far away, identifying her brother's frozen body. ]

He's...

[tellthestory]

What's going on? Is Spongebob hurt?

[At this point, he's just run here from the band room and there's a bunch of people standing in the doorway (plus a lot of screaming), so he's not really seeing the body on the bench.]

[sugarlumps]

[This worry is probably not helped by the distant echoing screams of "HE'S ACTUALLY DEEEEEAD"]

[comeandfindme]

[ She doesn't move, doesn't seem to register what's going on, just staring at Mumble the body.

It may be hard to hear her, under the screaming, but if he gets close enough: ]

He's... They couldn't...find him...

[violentenvies]

[Salieri skids to a stop, breathing hard, but he can lean over just enough to see around someone's arm--and that sure is a lot of screaming from Spongebob and beyond him---

--he goes pale, jerking back, reaching out instinctively to grab onto the closest thing, which is the Balladeer's arm as his stomach suddenly twists into knots]

I--there's, it's Mumble, he's not moving...

[employeeoftheyear]

[He does not stop. He just keeps screaming and staring in terror at the body.]

[themuseabandonsyou]

[ Orpheus turns up right around then, having sprinted all the way here from the band room, and skids to a stop on the tile floor. It takes him a second of looking wildly around the room - between all the pale faces and the bundle on the bench - to register what's going on but. ]

Oh, no. Is that - [ He'll kneel next to Spongebob and put one hand on his shoulder as well, the other clapped over his own mouth in silent dismay. ]

[howtheworldwas]

[ Eurydice turns to Orpheus, stricken, and just shakes her head. She'll whisper low to Spongebob: ]

It's going to be okay. You'll be okay. Orpheus and I are right here.

[sugarlumps]

[You know, screaming carries, and the cafeteria isn't TOO far from the gym and locker rooms-]

[I'm very sorry, is what I'm saying.]

[But LSP rushes in, knife in one hand and a half-drunk bottle of soda in the other-]

WHO'S LUMPING TRYING IT, IF YOU'RE KILLING SOMEONE I'LL-

[Oh.]

[That's a body.]

[...yeah, she's screaming too, but she's also running out as she does so, so.]

[feudalladyshandmaid]

[Well! Guess who's almost right outside the locker rooms! So the moment the scream pierces the air, Cassandra's running to bust through the locker room doors.]

Spongebob? What's happening? I heard- [She stops short with a stumble as she notices Mumble, laying across the bench.]

[wanderlusttitania]

[And it is at this time that Sissi also sees the body.

Oh.

Oh, no.

Why would Spongebob be screaming unless.]

Is he-

[No. It couldn't be. Someone had really-

Someone had killed-]

Is...is he...

[It can't be. It can't be. This is all wrong. A bad dream.

Did someone really--]

...

[Too much. It is too much for her to bear seeing any further. She takes a shaky step back, before all at once collapsing on the floor like a rag doll.]

[mcfife]

Someone killed him. [Angus clenches his fists as he gazes upon the body of his friend. Mumble had a community of penguin shapeshifters to return to. He had an entire life ahead of him. He believed that they could prevent their ill fates in the photos.]

How could they do this to him? [A flash of rage in his eyes.] What monster would murder a man who meant no harm?

[mcfife]

[Angus had just finished up his workout, walked into the locker room.

And he's screaming.]

Spongebob? What is--

[And halts in his tracks.]

[whatyouwant]

Elle follows closely on Angus' heels, having heard the scream in the hall. Seeing the body she inhales sharply and puts a hand over her mouth. One person screaming is enough, but it's a very hard urge to fight.]

[mcfife]

[He steps in front of Elle, though it's hard to hide the scene without a cape.]

He- You don't have to stay, Miss.

[whatyouwant]

[Elle can't take her eyes off the body.]

Who would do this?