THE THIRD INVESTIGATION

[strangerpeople]

THE THIRD INVESTIGATION

[How is everyone, this morning?

No doubt, most of you are sleeping. Perhaps you are dreaming. Whether they are dreams or nightmares are irrelevant. Hopefully, none of you are heavy sleepers. Especially not when there is a very loud BANG that suddenly permeates through the ceiling right above the bedrooms.. The force of the impact is such the rooms actually shake, sending dust onto those in their bed.

If that didn't wake someone up, then the sudden scream coming from upstairs at roughly the same time will do it, right?

In other words. Good morning, Strangers. Something is happening upstairs.

Best to check it out, and quickly.]

Comments

[yonosoymaria]

[It is the most frustrating thing in the world to be writing someone who is not necessarily going to make remotely the same connections you do, mostly because he just wants to go full Roland after - wait, do I have to warn for Dark Tower spoilers still? ANYWAY....

That tracks, with the angle Emma was sitting at and all. Would he have been lined up with the passageway windows?

But back to the wound. It is just the one wound, correct? By which I mean it's not one that pierces all the way through, leaving an entrance and exit. Is it?]

[strangerpeople]

[He could have been lined up with the window at some point, yes.

Not only is it just the one wound-he might be able notice something in the bloody chest, if he looks closely enough.]

[yonosoymaria]

[Well, he's definitely examining the wound closely, trying to figure out what did it (trying to figure out who needs to live with what they did).]

I don't suppose any - never mind that, I need a second pair of eyes, please?

[There are things that will never, ever, feel "right", and shoving your fingertips into a hole in a dead boy's chest to try and grasp something that you aren't even sure is really there is one. So, while Eric's going alarmingly pale, what's that he's pulling out of Jun's body?]

EVIDENCE

[strangerpeople]

[He'll find he's fingering something wooden. It's embedded, though, so it may take some effort to actually....get it out.]

[yonosoymaria]

[Well. So. It's stuck. How horrid. He's going to pause for a moment, and take a moment to wipe the blood from his fingertips off on the edge of his tunic. Then he takes Jun's glasses off, and sets them off to the side. If this involves too much force, they might be shaken loose, and... and he can't bear the thought of that, on top of everything.

Just because he's having a bad sanity day - the end of the Wooden Thing that Eric can actually feel, does it seem to have been purposefully shaped?

He's going to try again, now. This isn't something that will require a tool, is it?]

[strangerpeople]

[If he digs in enough, he can probably get it, but it will be a bloody bloody thing.

As for the shape of the wooden item, it seems to get narrower on the sides as Eric slooowly pulls it out.]

[yonosoymaria]

[It is a stake. God hates him. It is a stake, it must be, what kind of sadistic monster would do that to someone alive -

The force it takes to remove is hideous. There is so much blood - almost like - but nothing like that. No. He must focus, and not look at how he's managed to shake Jun around in this process until he's got his hands wiped clean and can set him to rights, so much as he can.

What is it that he holds, now that it's pulled free?]

[strangerpeople]

[An arrow head.]

[yonosoymaria]

[A wooden arrow-head. No shaft, but - they'd have found it on top of him, wouldn't they? Is there any sign that the arrowhead was attached to something when it... went in?]

[strangerpeople]

[The end of a shaft is attached to the arrow, but whatever or whatever the shaft may be, it's not here, it was likely shattered during the Bookshelvening.]

[yonosoymaria]

[There's something that doesn't add up, though.

The arrow went into Jun's chest, not his back. Even considering he must have been bleeding when she ran to him, even if she'd tried her hardest to pull him free, even based on how she was holding him, half-curled-up... how the hell can they tell if all that blood was Jun's? It would have made much more sense for Emma's hands and arms to be the most bloodied part of her, wouldn't it?

And if she came in and then "everything" -

He may well have made a disastrous mistake.]

Dear God -

Would someone please check the young woman in shock for injuries?!

[whiterosefoes]

[Let's just say she was hanging out in the back watching the commotion this whole time after the noise drew everyone over...]

Right then. I can do a quick check, if that's fine by Millstein.

[hexposition]

I— I'm fine with it. I'm not hurt, but...

[She'll force herself to her feet, if that makes checking her easier for Harriet?]

[whiterosefoes]

Easy there. [It does help, but.] We may as well verify this now so it doesn't come up later.

[as in when they're all in chains. She doubts this will actually avert a trial, since when is life ever that easy. But yeah, she'll just take her aside and briefly check all the spots that look like blood could have ostensibly come from.]

...She's telling the truth. No open wounds here.

[yonosoymaria]

Thank God. It struck me that if she had been, she might not have yet realized....

[whiterosefoes]

That's one less thing to worry about, then. This is horrid enough as it is...

[Harriet steps away from Emma now, allowing her space.]

Just let me know if you need anything else, alright?

[hexposition]

[Emma nods.]

R-right. Thank you.

[If no one minds, she's gonna curl up back where she was.

For clarity's sake, the blood on her torso is from how she was curled over Jun, and thus soaking up blood from HIS open wound.]

[relieable]

[he comes back into the library to check on how things are going in here, if he's needed anywhere. and... oh, there's Emma, still upset and huddled against the wall. Osomatsu may be wary of her right now, but he also cares about her.

so he comes over, crouches down in front of her. she's a witness, and part of the crime scene, but maybe she should get cleaned up before the trial. it might help her clear her head so she'd be able to remember more]

Hey...

AND RETURNING TO THIS...

[yonosoymaria]

[Right. So. With Emma apparently fine under all of the blood...

Eric's wiping the blood off of the arrowhead, not caring that he's now left streaks over the coat of arms on his chest. It only gets worse when he swipes his hands down over the front of his tunic, frustrated at the blood coming off of them onto the thing he's holding. It's a miracle he hasn't dropped it, really... so.

Is there literally anything distinctive about it, cleaned off? Does the wood seem to match the bookshelves? Does it look hastily carved, or made as a weapon?]

[strangerpeople]

[It's definitely made as a weapon, and even seems hand-carved.]

[yonosoymaria]

[Is it of a style with anything he'd recognize from the Arena or Armory?]

[strangerpeople]

[Yes...and no. It definitely looks like the arrowhead could have easily been made with the supply in the armory - but the carving of the arrowhead is a customized one, not something that was mass-fabricated.

Nothing fancy, but it's a difference. This arrowhead was clearly not just taken from the armory and that was it.]

[yonosoymaria]

[So to recap - it's a custom job recently carved, in such a way that it could have been made here; it struck Jun from the front, but was able to be pulled out of the wound it caused with effort. The shaft is broken off, presumably by the bookshelf -

Wait. Jun's shoulders weren't under the bookshelf, neither was the wound -

But they moved him. If it had been pinned, it would have been right there, wouldn't it? If it had been caught in his clothing it would have been obvious - wouldn't it?]

To hell with this. God, it... it must have been agony. I'm so sorry.

[Not forgetting to take Jun's glasses as well, gently tucking one earpiece into his shirt collar to keep them with him, Eric's going to pick the boy up off the floor. The dead never truly look like they're sleeping, not without an undertaker's help. There's a limpness that living flesh just doesn't have, and what dead flesh has was made worse in this case by what had to be several hundred pounds of books, chains, and sturdily-constructed shelf.

Still, Eric's cautious, even as the trembling that hasn't stopped becomes something more like a case of the shakes. It's easiest to keep Jun's head from lolling unnaturally if he does lift him as though he's sleeping, so he does. While he does his best to ignore how wrong everything feels as he carries him over to the table - there isn't something particularly off about his back, is there?

Aside from the expected crush damage below a certain point, rather. Flail chest is probably a given, isn't it... in any case, nobody's going to want to use that table again.]

[strangerpeople]

[Nothing particularly off. It looks like Eric's found all there is to be found regarding the body.]

[yonosoymaria]

[Right, then.

Right.

Eric's just going to fuss over a dead - Christ, what word to use? He wasn't the mentor, here, he'd been a fumbling idiot, not anything like an older brother, more of an annoyance and then an enemy pilot - friend for a bit, then. Try to make him look presentable, not like he died horribly. He'll ignore the blood and anything else that's now staining the table, and nudge Jun's chin up if his jaw's fallen and left his mouth open. There's no way to cover the tear in his shirt, or the wound there.

He can, at least, gently settle Jun's hair back into place - he'd never ruffled the boy's hair, John would be astonished, aghast. His hands' shaking seems to be trying now, but no, he can manage this, can manage to make him look less like a battered corpse. Emma is in no shape to do so, and Eric isn't sure who else would. Someone must, and right now someone is him. They've had no funerals here. That's been bothering him for a while now, but he's pushed it aside. (He's going to keep doing that.) No one he knows who has died has worn glasses - what are you meant to do with them? Put them back on, as though the wearer will wake up? Ghoulish. It's ghoulish.

But he does just that, and steps back, twice. He does pick up the arrowhead before fleeing the library, at least.]