second investigation

[stagemanagers]

[One week out from the first deaths in this place, now. When you wake up on Friday morning, everything seems pretty quiet. There's nothing immediately, obviously amiss when you leave your dorms - and if maybe not everybody is in their beds at the moment, well, that's not so strange, is it? Maybe the No Murder party worked! Nobody wants to shatter Spongebob's poor little heart, right?

But, you know. Maybe you should make sure.]

Comments

[brokeforgood]

Peregrine, you went into the wrong —— [ FARRAH SCREAMS]

[comeandfindme]

[ Peregrine doesn't even react to the scream! She's a bit busy, still trying to get Connor to wake up. ]

Connor— come on, you said— you said—

[alchemistake]

[Hey, guess who heard that scream and didn't stay paralyzed with fear this time? It's Varian, who literally booked it from the auto shop through various halls and doors to try and find where that scream came from. He no doubt arrives long after some of the others, breathing heavy, but it's...

Probably for the best he did.]

Farrah! Farrah what's wrong-!?

[He's not going into the room proper just yet. Something tells him to stay put with her.]

[samefacesyndrome]

[ Rina heard the scream and then saw Varian running and she's taking off as well right after him because oh no. Oh no oh no.

She's right behind him but she can see a little into the room and she just goes completely white, hands over her mouth. ]

[disharmonizes]

[Yeah that scream was hard to miss and Discord is not too far behind, but he's just

going to geeeently put his hands on Rina's shoulders and try to direct her backwards. Hi.]

[brokeforgood]

[Rina, you too. She takes a hand off Varian, shoving her back with that one.]

Rina, No!

[whatyouwant]

[Elle turns from the scene and hugs Rina to block her view of the scene.]

Come on, Rina you don't need to look.

[samefacesyndrome]

[ There's people talking to her, trying to protect her and get her away from her and she feels and hears their attempts to, but she doesn't quite process it. Her hands go to her eyes, covering them and there's a strangling whimper hiccupping out of her throat.

She still hadn't managed to talk to Connor much if at all, she hadn't gotten to known him and now he was gone. And Peregrine is upset and trying to wake him and the image is burned in and she hates that this happened again, even though they all seemed to be getting along and...!

She goes along with everyone trying to get her away from it without any fuss. ]

[feudalladyshandmaid]

[The screaming is VERY hard to miss, and soon Cassandra's rushing in. One hand clutching her sword.]

Is everyone alright?! I heard-

[Oh

oh no no no.]

[brokeforgood]

[Oh Jesus. Varian doesn’t need to see this. There’s no helping Peregrine or Conner at this point, but Farrah still has a chance there. She whirls on Varian, a look of terror on her face. She puts both hands on his arms, and pushes with all her might, to shove him back, away from the door.]

We need to get out of here.

[violentenvies]

[Salieri, who'd been on his way to the Band Room, has been quite alerted by all the noise and has come running, slowing to a stop near the door, a frown of concern on his face]

Farrah? Varian? What's going on--

[brokeforgood]

[Oh. Thank God. Farrah staggers to him, trembling.]

Dad——- [She can’t correct herself.]

It’s. Conner.

[violentenvies]

[As Farrah comes staggering to him, he's immediately holding out his arms on instinct to catch a hold of her, gathering her up--not even having time to process what she's called him, but the tone of her voice makes something twist painfully in his chest]

It's--

[a moment, then it hits, and he sucks in a breath, going pale]

Oh. Oh Lord, again....

[brokeforgood]

He’s dead. He’s —- [Farrah sobs. By now, Maya’s rushed past— so Peregrine isn’t alone. She’s tried, unsuccessfully to protect the others from the scene. She can stop trying.

She buries her face against him, and uses his shirt to muffle the scream of agony she lets out.]

[disharmonizes]

[Yeah, while Salieri is going to be busy with his kids (bc that's what they are let's not kid ourselves), Discord will try to lean in just slightly.]

I think this is better as a no kids allowed zone, yes?

[aka pls get these children away from this room maestro and quick]

[violentenvies]

[Salieri glances over at Discord at that, making eye contact, before nodding once, one arm still around Farrah, and the other perhaps reaching to take Varian by the shoulder and gently trying to tug him back further than Farrah has pushed him]

Come now, let's step back, this way--

[alchemistake]

[Yeah...yeah.

By the time Rina comes up behind him, Varian has at least realized Farrah screamed as a reaction, not out of hurt.

Well. Not...physical hurt, anyway.

He can see directly into the room, this time. He can see his body, even as Peregrine is crying and trying to hold on to him. His heart leaps into his throat, and he doesn't allow himself to look more than a second.

Varian staggers back when Farrah pushes him, both him and Rina, and because he knows now why she's doing this, he'll turn halfway and gently reach for Rina's hand instead of like...doing the shoving.]

Okay- okay, okay-

[He's. Panicked. Shaking, stammering.]

[brokeforgood]

[She tried. She tried to be a good sister, and protect him.

She wants to be a good sister.]

[sugarlumps]

[Yeah, once again, screaming kind of carries. So once more here comes a knife-wielding bunch of grapes to stop whatever assault is clearly happening.]

NUH-UH, SQUIP'S NOT KILLING ANYONE TODAY-

[That's about when she sees the body. It takes a second to register, the knife clattering to the floor.]

[And good news! Farrah's not the only one screaming now.]

WHICH ONE OF YOU-?!

NOT HERE

[voicerights]

[but fucking RUDE]

[themuseabandonsyou]

Princess, please put the knife away. [ says Orpheus, with as much authority as he can command. Which isn't much, but. ]

[sugarlumps]

He was the hottest one here! The only one as hot as me AND SOMEONE TOOK HIM, ORPHEUS!

[Yeah, you, uh. Might be getting clung to and cried on a little. Or a lot. Sorry.]

[At least the knife lies forgotten on the ground.]

[themuseabandonsyou]

[ That's... a reaction to have? If anything it kind of confuses Orpheus out of his own state of shock, so there's that. He pats the Princess awkwardly on the back, eyes on the body. ]

It's - we'll figure this out. We have to.

[sugarlumps]

We shared a pie.

[It was a deep and meaningful moment, perhaps matched in intimacy only by the forging of hundreds of emailed messages.]

We will! We'll figure out who did this and LUMPING SEND THEM TO GLOB.

[mcfife]

Shit!

[There's screaming - someone's in danger, he can't let someone else die. Angus runs into the boys locker room, already filling up with other people, and notices the dead body. He's too late.]

He can't...is he...?