yuggoth tdmurder - and this is what happens when you don't return your books on time

[selfsufficiency]

[As a general rule, Alice doesn't like running errands for other people.

All bets are off when she thinks she can get something out of it, though, which is why she's here - if whatever brought them all here is strong to do that, then it can only be a good thing for them to owe her a favor. As requested, she's gone through the secret entrance and slipped into the library... she's on the lookout for a blood-stained book, so she finds it quickly. She doesn't give any particular mind to the blood as she tucks it under her arm - if it gets on her clothes, so what? She doesn't care. She'll just get changed, or find someone else to take the fall for her if people get suspicious.

Decus is useful that way.

On her way out, she pauses, noting a suit of armor that seems slightly out of place. Hmm... The instructions said not to investigate the room, but surely a little peek won't hurt?

She heads right on over and flips the helmet's visor up.]

Well, let's see what we have here, shall we? ♡

[She's having way too much fun with this.]

Comments

[abhoth]

[ The dimly lit room was lavish in every sense of the word. Luckily for Alice, the white leather-bound backing of Frankenstein was easy to spot with the now drying blood on it. Good job!

As the fireplace still brimmed with a low, ember-filled glow, Alice could see easily through the few feet around the fireplace. Past that? It takes a little squinting.

If Alice is keen on peeking around, the suit stepping halfway off it's pedestal was half hidden in the darkness. It's old — decorative with steel plates and hinges. As the visor squeaks open, she'll find nothing.

That is, until her foot hits against something far more movable than a couple hundred pounds of steel. ]

[selfsufficiency]

[Nothing in the helmet is a little disappointing. She was hoping for a decapitated head, maybe! Booooo.

...but what her foot hits against is a little more promising, and she kneels down to get a better look, squinting in the dim light and feeling around with her hands if he can't see right away.

This should be good.]

[abhoth]

[ One day you'll find one. :( We have faith.

For now, the feeling Alice has is something familiar - cloth. It's tight, and upon her patting she'll notice it's a sleeve of some kind. Her feeling moves the sleeve...and the body attached to said sleeve into the dim glow. Alice will have to wedge them a bit further from behind the suit of armor to see who it is. ]

[selfsufficiency]

[A small voice in the back of her mind tells her that maybe she shouldn't be poking around, but as always, her conscience goes ignored.

Instead, she takes firm hold of the sleeve and tugs hard to pull the body out into the light.] Hey, get out of there. This is no place for a nap. What, are you dead?

[Because, if so, she's going to laugh.]

[abhoth]

[ It wasn't her voice, it was also the concise and direct instructions not to snoop but. Here we are.

The tug is enough to pull Ventus from his little secret hideaway. He's definitely enjoying his nap in the dark and Alice had to ruin it. Her strength is just enough to pull his upper torso from a propped up position to leaning out from the side of the suit of armor's legs. From here, Alice can see one thing:

Ventus is, in fact, dead. ]

[selfsufficiency]

[Yeah, he... he sure is dead.

Alice gives the corpse a flat look, obviously unimpressed. She wasn't sure what she was expecting out of Ventus - if anything, really - but... seriously? Seriously?

With a roll of her eyes, she stands fully and gives his head a light kick.]

You've got to be kidding me. Dead already? What a joke.

[abhoth]

[ This poor guy has been through a lot and the kick does nothing to garner a reaction. Ventus is dead, Alice. His body is slumped over half on the pedestal and half to the floor. ]

[selfsufficiency]

[Dead, and by the looks of it, whoever killed him tried to hide his body.

Well, that's no fun. With a huff, she leans down again to grip him under his shoulders, taking a step back to brace herself as she tries to pull him free. She'd like to get a look at any injuries he happens to have already, and she can't do that if he's stuck back there!]

[abhoth]

[Luckily for Alice, it'll only take the smallest bit of effort to pull Ven out of his hiding place. It seems like whoever stashed him here was more focused on temporarily keeping him out of sight than anything else.

It's difficult to make out any injuries he may have in the dim lighting, however. If she wants to take a proper look at him, she'll have to drag him over to the fireplace.

What now?]

[selfsufficiency]

[She'll drag him over to the fireplace!

...which gives her some ideas, actually, but she'll wait until she's looked him over before making any real decisions. Once he's in the firelight, she'll pat him down to see if he's carrying anything while looking his corpse over.

Man, Alice is probably the last person Ven wanted to be first to find his dead body, huh.]

[abhoth]

[Wow. Thanks for being a pal, Alice.

Alas, there's nothing of value on his corpse. Patting down his pockets will reveal something flat and rectangular. Should she take it out, it'll turn out to be one of the invites, identical to her own but blank on the backside. It doesn't seem like he received any super duper secret instructions to get himself killed or anything like that. Bummer!

But now that Ven's close enough to the fireplace, Alice will be able to make out several bruises on his head and throat. She'll also notice speckles of blood on his lips (his mouth clamped shut), blood smeared on his neck, and blood slowly drying on the side of his head. Looks like someone had a party of their own in the library and forgot to invite everyone else.]

[selfsufficiency]

[Wow, super rude. How dare they not invite her!

She flips the invitation over to see if there's anything written on it, but of course, there's not. Or not that she can see, anyway. Nobody seemed to notice the directions to the secret entrance in the bathroom other than her, so it's not like she can really trust her eyes around here.

...now, she has a few options here. She could preserve the crime scene - put everything back the way she found it - or she could obscure things. If whoever did it gets away with it because of her alterations, they'll owe her one. And she will fully intend to collect.

So, of course, she brings the invitation up to his neck to smear some of the blood on it before she slips it back into his pocket. Then she grabs both of his wrists, eyes his hands for a moment, and shoves them straight into the fire.

Haha, sorry, Ven.]

[abhoth]

[Well.

The expected happens.

Ven's hands burn a little like a tree branch, the thin outer layers of his skin peeling and frying the longer Alice holds them in the fire. The smell of burning flesh will invade her senses within moments, which — actually? Is apparently not that unpleasant, smelling more like a burnt pork roast than anything else. She'll catch a small whiff of sulfur as his fingernails are burnt off along with his flesh, but it's not nearly enough to turn her stomach. With the Library door locked and the secret entrance presumably closed behind her, she doesn't have to worry about anyone else detecting the smell.

The exact amount of damage done to his hands will depend on how long she holds them there, but. Yeah. The deed is done. Google has served us all well.]

[selfsufficiency]

[Smells like bacon! Okay, not really.

Alice isn't all that bothered by the smell of burning flesh, so she holds his hands there until his fingernails are about halfway burnt off before she removes them from the fire. Hmm, what next...

Her eyes fall on a fire poker which is presumably nearby, and she picks it up, then drags Ven's body over to a patch of wall across from the main entrance.

A moment or two to consider it, and then she arranges him so that he's kneeling, slumped over on the side of the wall. She pulls his hand up and presses the back of it to the wall, then impales his palm with as much force as she can muster, so it'll keep him more or less upright.]

[abhoth]

[And then Ven's hand was both burnt and impaled. Let's hope there wasn't any useful evidence hiding in his hands. That would have been rough (for everyone else not Alice).

But dead boys can't talk, so after Alice finishes impaling his palm with the fire poker, his corpse remains more or less in the position she desired. His eyes are closed and his mouth is shut, and while someone more poetic might feel the urge to ploddingly describe this scene, we'll just leave it as is. Dead boy kneeling, covered in blood, bruises and burns. Thank you, Alice and mystery killer.

To contribute to Alice's good time: It doesn't seem like anything's happening to her for disregarding the "don't investigate" command. Not that this count as investigating. Perhaps Abigail and her employers are enjoying the show? Who knows.]

[selfsufficiency]

[It is probably a good thing that dead boys can't talk, because Ven would probably say "Stop," and Alice would probably just laugh at him and impale his other hand.

Buuut since he stays dead and quiet, she's... more or less satisfied with her work here, so his second hand will just stay where it is, burnt and unimpaled. She abandons his corpse, heads back over to pick up her book, and heads out through the secret entrance so she can bring Frankenstein down to storage.

Good times. Have fun, library corpse.]