No Backward Glances

[stagemanagers]

Today is the day of the promised grand finale. And, strangely, nothing about the Opera seems especially different this morning. The theatre doors remain locked. There's no smell of blood in the air, no trashed rooms, and no dead bodies to find. In the lobbies, the crystal chandeliers are still in their places, not swung about by any mysterious force.

But there's little things. It may take a while to notice, but the lock on one of the doors in the second floor lobby - the one leading to Boxes 5 through 8 - is missing. Should anyone try it, it opens easily and without a sound.

Meanwhile, down on the first floor, the graffiti on the box office walls has once again been cleaned up. In the process, it seems, the box office door was left slightly ajar.



(( As a reminder, these are your teams. Group A gets the second floor, which will involve the area indicated in red, and Group B gets the first floor, with the areas in blue here and down the left to here. Good luck, everyone! ))

Comments

[stagemanagers]

[There is a potted succulent and an empty vase sitting on the desk. There's also a desk calendar, the large monthly kind that lies flat.

Next to the desk is a trash can.]

[allicareabout]

...Do you want to switch places with me.

[Said from over near the desk, which is hopefully corpse-free, and if it isn't I'm so fucking sorry?]

[catliketread]

Yes. Yes. Absolutely. That would be wonderful.

[HERE YOU GO MAN, HAVE AT THE SKELETON, THAT DESK LOOKS NICE AND SAFE]

[pennyless]

I guess. But they've never called time on an investigation before. At least, not until we're all done anyway.

Besides, we don't know how long the others are going to take.

[catliketread]

[SO NOW THAT WE'VE SWITCHED PLACES... The calendar looks important, let's start with that. What month is it on?]

[aflatouttahell]

Yeah, alright. Small groups or together it is, then, unless anyone objects.

[allicareabout]

[okay

lovely

he has no idea why he keeps doing this to himself but let's go over here and open. the. um.

...yeah that sure as hell is a skeleton, all right.

so, uh. first things first, he hates his life.

Secondly. If he just straight-up touches this thing, does it feel authentic texture-wise or is it synthetic.]

[stagemanagers]

[It is not synthetic.]

[stagemanagers]

[It's on the month of November. It looks like the previous month was just folded over the back, rather than torn off.]

I sure do know history

[dontfeedplants]

[It takes him a moment to recognize who it is with the graininess, but he is able to make it out well enough.]

Isn't that The Presiden-

[U h.

Uhhhhhh.]

Dear god!

[He stumbles back a little. He kind of figured that the President would have died back in his world, but wow, that is not a plant-based death.]

[allicareabout]

[OH GOOD, nice to know that you did not horrify the pirate king in vain

All right. So that sure is a dead person. Is there anything to imply cause of death on it - is the skull intact, is there something jammed between the ribs, things like that.

...Also is it just kind of haphazardly in here or does it look like it was purposefully arranged, that might be a good thing to verify as well.]

[dechagny]

[Raoul makes a garbled, shocked sound, stumbling back in shock and horror.]

That man...he was shot! Like...

[Like the Balladeer.]

[catliketread]

[Huh. Okay, before he checks October, he's going to look over November. Is there anything that stands out immediately?]

[stagemanagers]

[None of the bones are broken, but they are rather blackened. Billy's not a doctor, so he probably can't tell for certain, but no bones are obviously missing or misplaced either - it looks for all the world as if someone carefully laid the body inside.]

[dieformymusic]

[Winslow is no history expert but the Kennedy assassination was a big enough deal that nearly everyone knows it.]

...Kennedy.

But...how could they get their hands on footage of a president's assassination?

[dieformymusic]

[Shhhh Winslow has a cloak to hide in.]

Look away Seymour, you don't need to see this.

[allicareabout]

[He can't exactly tell if everything is there but he'd notice if the person's femur was straight-up missing or something, right.

...Size-wise, does this person seem to have been a child or an adult?]

[stagemanagers]

[For the entirety of November, every Friday has 1:00 written on it, and every Saturday has noon.

The only exceptions are the three most recent dates marked: November 25, which reads noon and the next day, which reads 11:30. For some reason, November 22 just reads So close!

There is also a yellow Post-it note stuck to the top of the November page.]

[stagemanagers]

[This appears to have been an adult.]

[catliketread]

[Huh. Well. This means absolutely nothing to him! But that post-it note looks promising, so he'll take a look at that. Does it have something written on it?]

[allicareabout]

[...You know, there aren't many times when people think this while examining human remains in a trunk, but oh thank goodness, that could have been infinitely worse.

Is there anything on them? We're talking things like jewelry or what have you.]

[dechagny]

A president...?

[So it's a politician - and an important one at that.]

What does record of a politician's death have to do with whoever's office this is?

ROOM #2

[pennyless]

Alright, split up or come with, just... try to stay with somebody.

[Meanwhile he's going to try that first door on the left.

...And he's still got his blow torch so he's not taking no for an answer here.]

[dontfeedplants]

[He takes a deep breath as he calms himself down from what he's seen.]

I'm fine. I've seen worse. I've technically done worse.

[He is going to gently reach for Winslow's hand, though.]

[dontfeedplants]

Maybe whoever shot him is the one who owns this office?