Week 6

[bathymetric]

Good morning, New Rapture. A new day is dawning.

Another week at the bottom of the sea. You may start to mark the passage of time by the increasing number of people you seem to be bleeding each week - look how few of you there are now. Nearly half your number gone, and for what? The shadowy machinations of some madman? You've met some others, but they seem unable or unwilling to solve this problem for you. Time marches onwards.

In the abyss, New Rapture starts to wake. It's small things, for now - the lights of a building here and there, the flicker of a neon sign for some small business. The restoration of this city continues.

Speaking of this city, there's a new branch of your little slice of it to explore. It's certainly the most picturesque of the branches you've seen.

There's more to see and do, citizens of New Rapture. And hey, there's coins to get, too.



SUNDAY | MONDAY | TUESDAY | WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY

[ ooc: Welcome to the sixth week of Unknown Seas Round 3! Please make sure to mark any investigation toplevels accordingly, post your ac, and you can reach either Mayor Fontaine or Eleanor for conversations! ]

Comments

[sastruga]

...Weird.

[it's whispered obviously but like

yeah what the fuck]

[inaclearing]

[Looks at everyone else present.

Sighs. Yeah, this...this is on him, huh? He really should've insisted they wait on someone else...

Okay - actually, you know what? Let's handwave that he grabbed his old pal Wrenchie off the worktable on his way up here! Brett holds his big wrench at the ready and starts creeping over to the chair.]

[sastruga]

[thank you for your sacrifice brett, zinda would kill her if she went first]

[bathymetric]

[ As he creeps over to the chair, the overwhelming scent of cigar lowers and, well...

It's always the smell
The smell hits you first
And as far as smells go?
Death is damn near the worst. ]

[inaclearing]

[So I followed my nose like a curse 'til I found the remains...

The words run through Brett's mind, Howl's voice and all, but he doesn't speak them. Mostly because he's letting out a choked noise and abruptly lowering the wrench to clap a hand over his mouth and nose.

He knows already what he'll see. But he came over here because he's trying to take responsibility - to take the worst of it rather than the girls or Jonathan, at least. Already cringing, he reaches out with the wrench to try and spin the chair around a little, slow and gentle to maybe...not give himself quite so much of a Psycho jumpscare.]

[bathymetric]

[ Brett, you're a brave man.

It's easy to tell as the chair turns, but his intuition is correct. First a hand, then the sleeve of a well-tailored suit. Then the rest of that well-tailored suit. Some effort has been made by someone to preserve this, but it's clear:

Frank Fontaine is dead.

Frank Fontaine has been dead for a long time. ]

[inaclearing]

[Brett chokes again, dropping his wrench to the floor with a loud thunk as he recoils. But all that comes out of his mouth is a quiet line of song, the first he's allowed for a long time:]

That's the mark of a man
Who cannot be saved...

[That aside: is it clear how Fontaine died just from looking at him like this?]

[honeyedtea]

[ Hearing the thunk, Mielle just barely avoids jumping out of her skin before she sticks her head out to see – oh he's right in there, huh ]

Brett! [ Hissed in an undertone. ] What on earth are you doing?!

[specialyellthing]

[The thunk made Zinda clamber through the window, and Mielle's hiss made her hurry.

Oh-- shit. She's just gonna. Cover Mielle's eyes.]

... I didn' do that. [JUST MAKING IT CLEAR SINCE SHES GOT GUNS ON HER---]

[inaclearing]

None of us did. Look at him.

[Brett's voice is hollow, shocked - but Fontaine looks like he's been dead a lot longer than this has been going on.]

[sastruga]

[Well, something is going on here, so here's the last member of our crew to check this out.]

What's everyone making so much noise ab--

[. . .]

...Oh.

[hotpaprika]

I... I suppose that explains why he did not have a reaction to his apartment getting vandalized...?

[sastruga]

It explains why he even has an apartment just accessible here to begin with.

[Mafuyu has shifted right into rational mode. No need to get flustered by yet another dead body, after all, several weeks in, even if this is definitely

an experience.]

[inaclearing]

I knew it seemed too weird. Too easy.

[He should've stuck to that initial conclusion, maybe.]

[hotpaprika]

[You know what that's fair especially since it's the body of someone they hate.]

But... who is behind all of this, if Fontaine is...?

[sastruga]

Someone else...

Why lie about it? I don't get it. There's no point in fooling us, after all.

[hotpaprika]

Unless it is to ruin Fontaine's reputation? But I cannot fathom why they would go through such an effort.

... Or... I suppose the mastermind could have been among us this whole time.

[honeyedtea]

[ Is it clinging to Mafuyu time??? Yes, of course it is. ]

This... is Fontaine, isn't it? But how could that be?

[sastruga]

Most likely... our Mayor has been lying about who he is?

[There's other fantastical explanations for it, which might have just as much merit, but. This is the most straightforward explanation.]

[inaclearing]

We never did see him. And we know some of those recordings were digitally altered. They could've gotten recordings of him just like we did, mimicked the voice...

[sastruga]

Maybe...?

[...That's a question, actually. She's heard their Mayor's voice plenty. She may not have thought anything of it, what with it maybe just being a matter of audio quality, but.

Did it sound digitally altered...?]

[bathymetric]

[ Now that you have reason to suspect, thinking back on it? Yeah, that might have been a Frank Fontaine utau. ]

[honeyedtea]

... certainly, if you were going to lie about your identity, you would pick anybody else.

[ LIKE... THEY'VE ALL SEEN FONTAINE... ]

[bathymetric]

[ it could have been sickness or any number of things, but...

The bullet hole in the center of his forehead seems like a likely culprit. ]

[hotpaprika]

[Jonathan looks over and

Oh.

Jonathan covers his mouth and gazes at the body in horror.]

How... how is this possible?