Fifth Investigation

[bathymetric]

Friday morning dawns once more as crisp and clear as a morning can be at the bottom of the ocean. There's something hanging in the air, but it's unclear exactly what. Excitement? Dread? There are plenty among you who stand to gain from someone getting away with a murder this week. The "hostages" are all still in their cages, of course, but that was bound to happen until someone gets away with the whole murder thing.

There's nothing wrong in Helios Suites or on the grounds thereof, and there's no literal explosions in the distance, but... there's something off in the air, today. Better go do your civic duty, citizens.

Comments

[inaclearing]

[......well. On one hand, bringing the penguin out with him on a Friday morning has not, historically, gone great. On the other, he's already squawking up a storm and it would suck if he had to sit in Brett's room hungry all day because, you know, something happened.

So early this morning, Brett has a penguin on a leash and he's power-walking to the aquarium to hopefully get some fish before shit goes down!]

[bathymetric]

[ You can sure find some fish! But you also find the aquarium is a mess! In ways we're going to get into later but it's kind of impossible not to notice the frogs all croaking and hopping around? Looks like someone broke some things...

But there's no body. Just signs of something going really, really wrong. ]

[visiblepattern]

[You know what, the lake was nice and Rossiu seemed convinced that we were going to find a body in it, so he's going to just make sure that there is not, in fact, a body in it.

Is there anything in the lake, or along the way, that would catch his notice?]

[capreelcious]

[ Floyd's gonna stumble to the barn in the Nature Preserve! He just wants to vibe! Maybe they won't find anything! It could be a good day! Floyd Friday!!! ]

[inaclearing]

Don't eat that!

[Ah, the anthem of all pet owners! Brett picks up Blake Bortles to prevent him from horking down an entire frog. And, uh. Carefully moves through the frog swarm to go and get some fish. Look, he came here for a specific reason and he doesn't actually want to be the body finder.

Assuming he can get Blake fed without further issue, though...he will be dropping Blake back off at his room and then...slowly, dreading, go to the restaurant.]

[sastruga]

[Just taking a little visit to the fields and seeing if there's trauma to be found or just cows.]

[bathymetric]

[ There's something...kind of weird in the shallows of the water but that is for later. ]

[bathymetric]

[ Hey Floyd! Here's a question, would you happen to be walking through the fields to get to the barn? ]

[visiblepattern]

[Awesome. Can he remain with the weird?]

[capreelcious]

[ Oh uh. He uh. He sure would, ominous narrator! Why do you ask? ]

[bathymetric]

[ The fields, huh?

Well. As Mafuyu walks and wanders, she'll find the fields are...very disturbed. Something went through here, with little regard for the crops. ]

[bathymetric]

[ Thankfully, Bretty remains not the body finder, as there is nothing of importance in the restaurant. ]

[bathymetric]

[ Sure, knock yourself out! ]

[bathymetric]

[ Floyd will find Mafuyu, and also some very very disturbed fields. ]

[sastruga]

[That's probably fine! So uh, if she keeps going towards the disturbed areas... what do we got?]

[inaclearing]

[Fucking sick, he's gonna have pancakes.





Okay, no, he's not stupid, but he can get a head start on gathering some drinks and snacks for the inevitable trial. He'll do that until there's an actual announcement. Five minutes where he can pretend things might be fine after all doesn't sound too bad.]

[capreelcious]

Hey, Moon Jelly... you didn't suddenly decide to mess up a field, did you?

[ He's trying to lighten the mood slightly but haha yikes! Yeah... he's gonna keep walking for the barn or wherever the trail leads... somethings up. ]

[bathymetric]

[ When she reaches them, she'll find a trail of...well, it's not blood, that's for sure. Like, Hagakure's an exception, but blood isn't supposed to be pink, is it?

Will she follow the trail? ]

[sastruga]

I'm not really the "frolicking through a field" type.

[sastruga]

[Well, this seems like the kinda situation where she should maybe go get an adult or something. All she's got is Floyd and she knows he doesn't count.

...So like absolutely she's gonna follow the trail.]

[capreelcious]

...

[ Oh he's following the trail too! He doesn't like where this is going. ]

cw: mild (robot) gore

[bathymetric]

[ There are some odd things about the trail that will be clarified later. But for now, to keep this simple...

It leads to a seemingly arbitrary part of the fields. The only thing special about it is this specific colorful cow you find.

Oh, and the blocky body pinned to it. Normally, you'd have to get a little closer to tell what's going on, but there's only one person in New Rapture who looks like this. After last week, maybe you were hoping you wouldn't lose another robot. But with his missing arm...and more importantly, his missing head, it's impossible to kid yourself. The pitchfork through his chest doesn't inspire confidence either.

Misfire is dead. ]

cw: mild (robot) gore continued

[sastruga]

...Eh?

[The pink not-blood should've been a giveaway, but maybe she was just... trying not to think about it. It's a little different actually seeing the bot in question like this.

Most of him, anyway, where the hell is his head--]

Misfire--

[she's going closer, as if, you know, maybe his head will just pop back up and it'll just be a big joke or

or something?]

[capreelcious]

Flying Fishie...?

[ Oh, come on. Not again. Floyd gets closer to him... where the heck is his head? He can't really be dead, can he?

...Shoot. ]

[bathymetric]

[ ...So, about that.

It's more than five minutes. Brett would've seen some others heading into the Yellow Diamond Nature Preserve, where it's reasonable to assume something went down.

But there is no body announcement. At least...not yet. Still wanna stay there? ]