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

[disharmonizes]

[Well, shit was up over here, so. Discord's spent a bunch of time in here.

What's different?]

[alchemistake]

[VARIAN, UH. Well. He heard the screaming...and he heard Hester's announcement. But he'd just.

He froze. He couldn't do anything other than stand in the scene shop all alone in disbelief, trying to process the fact that their worst fears had been realized. There's some kind of guilt there, with the fact that he can't even find it in himself to go look for Mumble to confirm the truth for himself, but...

He'll go into the costume room before he makes it that far, hearing Discord as he goes back inside.]

Discord...you...heard that, right?

[disharmonizes]

[Discord pauses his looking around to glance over Varian's way.]

So I did. [He's maybe a little, uh. Agitated about the matter.] The announcement was hard to miss.

[And also two people snapped at him, so, y'know.]

[alchemistake]

[WITH GOOD REASON...but Varian wasn't there, so he won't be adding on to that, fortunately for Discord.

Instead, he looks visibly pale. Shaken. It's obvious he had to stay behind in the scene shop for a bit just to catch his breath, because hearing it over the intercom and hearing it from someone he feels like he can trust to some degree are two completely different things.

Discord is chaotic, but he wouldn't lie to Varian about this. That much he's sure of.]

Are the others...where it happened?

[disharmonizes]

[This... sure is a child in distress. Instinct tells him he should definitely prey on that or make it worse, or something. Or at least pass this over to someone else and let it be their problem. He's the Lord of Chaos, not a babysitter.

He does none of those things. It's a weird day.]

It seems most everyone rushed over there, yes. I caught some people leaving, I haven't really, ah... looked.

[...]

Not really my favorite sort of chaos.

[alchemistake]

[...so it is true, then.]

Somebody hurt- killed Mumble...

[Varian exhales the words through gritted teeth in a way that sounds a bit more vengeful than fearful. And as he stands up a bit straighter, looking around as if he's trying to find some sort of outlet- or, hell, something he can do about this- he actually notices how...]

...could they have been through here? This place is way messier than I remember.

[disharmonizes]

[Not really the energy he'd been expecting from Varian. Interesting. But also interesting is what he's noted.]

It's chaotic enough that you'd think I'd been through here.

...Which I have not, for the record. [Just covering his bases.] But you're right, someone has been. Something's missing, too.

[alchemistake]

[It's just difficult for Varian to grasp. How could something like this have happened right up under not just all of their noses, but especially of those who shared a space with Mumble? Had he left in the middle of the night and none of them woke up...?

While it would be prudent for them to actually search the area for anything else amiss, possibly things hidden beneath the clothing, the mention of something missing is more important right now.]

Something missing...are you sure? What is it?

1/

[disharmonizes]

There's a cart missing, I'm certain of it. I've been in here enough, I even used it when Mumble and I--

[when they

...oh, that's odd.]

2/3

[disharmonizes]

[it's the weirdest thing, he says the name, and he feels kind of not

great?]

3/3

[disharmonizes]

...Well, anyway, it's not here.

[Casually looks over some of the clothing. Tosses a jacket away.]

[alchemistake]

[That was a feeling if Varian ever saw one.

His expression softens, because he can tell Discord is trying to play it off. It's fine. Varian can be visually emotional enough for both of them.]

Well, that's...good to know, if nothing else. It means somebody moved it after we all went to bed.

[The culprit, more than likely. But where did the cart go?]

Maybe we should check and make sure...you know. Nothing else is missing.

[disharmonizes]

[Deep breath. Lord of Chaos, come on, pull it together. What does he care about all this?]

People do take a lot of clothes out of here, so those might be hard to distinguish. [He alone takes out like one part of a costume set per day.] But everything else, yes.

[alchemistake]

[That's what Varian will be doing for the foreseeable future, then, at least until Hester calls them for the trial.

He doesn't stray very far from Discord's side, notably, as if he's afraid something else might happen if he does.]

[stagemanagers]

[This is just one thing, so I'll just put it here - the costume shop is a mess. There's clothes strewn all over the floor.

...also, since you've been here a lot, you might notice that a push-cart that's usually here is missing.]