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

[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.]