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

[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.

[themuseabandonsyou]

[ Swallowing hard, Orpheus does his best to tear his eyes away from the body and look Spongebob in the eyes. ]

It's- Look at me. Look at me, Spongebob. Can you breathe in, for me?

[ because for one thing he's been holding that scream for a while and it's kind of impressive but also really concerning ]

[howtheworldwas]

[ Very concerning. Spongebob is definitely in bad shape, and that can't be good for his lungs.

To Orpheus: ]

We should probably get him out of here.

[employeeoftheyear]

[He continues screaming. It would almost be comedic if it weren't for, you know.

The fact that he found a corpse of someone he cared about.

He manages to shake his head "no" at Orpheus though! Progress!]

[themuseabandonsyou]

[ Orpheus takes one last look at the body before nodding to Eurydice and hooking an arm around Spongebob, trying to lift him to his feet and gently guide him out of the room as he tries frantically to think of something to say. What did the other Argonauts do for him, when Hylas and Idmon died? ]

Okay. You don't have to until you feel like it. But can you count all the blue things we pass, for me? You don't have to tell us how many there are. Just keep track of them.

[ Anything to keep him from focusing entirely on what he just saw. ]

[howtheworldwas]

[ Eurydice will keep that hand on Spongebob's shoulder as she leads them down the hall, back towards the dorms. Luckily, Rodgers is the first one on the right. She figures they can help get Spongebob comfortable here, and then Eurydice can go fetch him some food, or a distraction from the costume shop, or something. She doesn't have much experience comforting others, especially not verbally, but she's had to do this for herself enough to know that a safe, or safe-seeming environment can go a long way.

Gently: ]

Do you want something to eat or drink? You can just nod or shake your head, if that's easier.

[employeeoftheyear]

[Spongebob nods, and he counts the blue things they pass by. It's hard, but he didn't want to let Orpheus down.

Eventually the screaming does subside, replaced by sobbing. He manages to speak up when Eurydice asks him for food, but it's a little hard to hear him.]

I-It's ok, you don't gotta.

[Frankly Spongebob was starting to think about how he hadn't gotten anything to eat or drink yet (he never liked being the first one to eat breakfast; it felt rude). But he knows that everyone else is probably upset about this too, and the last thing he wanted was to burden them.]

[themuseabandonsyou]

[ That's progress, at least. Orpheus frowns, lips pressed into a thin, concerned line, and sits Spongebob down on his bed, sitting down next to him with his hand still on his shoulder. ]

Are you sure? It's not any trouble. Maybe it'd be a good idea to have some water, at least? [ The last part is half said to Eurydice. Spongebob is crying pretty hard, and that's... probably bad for a sponge? At bare minimum, it'd give him a pretty bad headache on top of all the rest of this. ] We don't mind looking out for you, like you do for all of us every morning.

[employeeoftheyear]

[He almost immediately goes to hugs his legs when he sits down. His mind somehow feels both empty and swirling with thoughts at the same time and he can't focus on a single thing.

Water... water does sound nice right about now. And it's not something that would be very hard for one of them to get.

Through his sobbing he manages to speak.]

...I'd like some water.

[howtheworldwas]

[ Eurydice nods, mostly at Orpheus. Once Spongebob is settled on the bed,she stands. ]

Okay. I'll be right back.

[ And with that, she'll walk briskly down to the kitchen. There, she'll take a few deep breaths, trying not to let the situation overwhelm her. She needs to focus. She won't be any help upset.

Eurydice returns with some water, a plate of scrambled eggs, and a cookie sheet to use as a tray. The eggs aren't quite as good as Spongebob makes them, but they're decent. Even though he didn't specifically request it, he should probably eat something, and these will be pretty mild.

She passes Spongebob the tray. ]

Here. Just slow down, and eat or drink what you can. Don't worry about finishing it if it's too much.

[themuseabandonsyou]

[ Orpheus just sits quietly with him while they wait for Eurydice to come back, swallowing down the spike of anxiety he feels when she leaves the room. It's fine. Whatever happened to Mumble - it won't happen to her. She's just going to the kitchen. It's fine.

He breathes out a quiet sigh of relief when she returns anyway, though, and turns his attention back to Spongebob. ]

The best thing we can do right now is keep our energy up and just... keep going. Try to think about now. Focus on your breathing. Everything else can wait, for now.

[employeeoftheyear]

[Spongebob shakily takes both the eggs and water, taking the tiniest sip before just... sitting there for a bit, trying to breathe. He has to listen to Orpheus.]

I just... I just don't get why...

[He wants to talk so badly but words keep getting lost in him, and all the screaming made his throat incredibly hoarse.]

[howtheworldwas]

[ Eurydice joins Spongebob on the bed, once again very close to touching him, but not quite. ]

Sometimes there isn't a why. Sometimes it just is.

[ That's never an easy lesson to learn. Eurydice kind of hates that Spongebob is learning it now. ]

[themuseabandonsyou]

[ Orpheus is quiet, at that. He doesn't have answers. He hadn't expected anything like this to happen, can't get his head around the fact that it did. So he just nods along with what Eurydice says, distracted as he tries not to think of how pale Mumble looked, laid out on the bench. ]

It's - It'll be okay. It has to be. We'll figure something out.