Seventh.

[trustfellows]

It really isn't getting any easier around here, is it? The way your numbers have fallen is impossible to ignore by now – there's so much space in this building, and it just seems to keep increasing with every passing week. Furthermore, the incentives and the timer are designed to ensure that your numbers keep dropping – something that's guaranteed to be evident today, one way or another. Friday morning dawns like the rest of the week before it; the clock chimes, the doors to the kitchen unlock, and there's a heavy silence that's settled over the building. Once again, there's no announcement from Jericho this morning to wake you up; the public-address system remains quiet, and there's only one conclusion to be drawn from that. And there's really only one thing to be done about it, isn't there? For those brave souls who want to know what happened – or those morbid ones who just want to know who died – the first three floors are clear. However, something seems amiss even from the stairwell as you make your way up to the fourth. Namely, the heavy scent of blood. Explore?

Comments

[bloodisthicker]

[awww shit. okay.

is there anything immediately obvious once walking into the hallways of the fourth floor.]

[matchbreaker]

[ Elda's here too, following along this whole track of the scent of blood. She... uh. Looks tired? She still has her hair done up but there's bags under her eyes. ]

You can smell that too, right? Not wishful thinking on my part?

[bloodbiter]

[this is very Yikes, so she speaks as she sees him.]

Do you smell that?

[trustfellows]

[There most definitely is.

Immediately visible even from the stairs, it looks like there's a massive amount of blood in this hallway; looking around for the source of it will reveal that there's a person lying haphazardly in the corner of the hallway, near the stairwell.

Or, well.

Most of a person. It's most of a person, lying there.]

[bloodisthicker]

No, it's... pretty strong to me, too. I'm just trying to figure out where we should be looking...

[matchbreaker]

Good, good. S'I'll just follow my nose.

[ Yaaaawn. Ugh.

oh wait ]

[bloodisthicker]

...

Oh, come on.

[JUST. JUST STAB SOMEONE. alright. let's go over and see who's been mutilated. can they be identified.]

[bloodisthicker]

Yes, I do. It's not too hard to figure out the reason, but...

[sigh. SIIIGH.]

[perpend]

[Well that's... lovely.

Time to join the crowd in the hallway.]

[trustfellows]

[They can! Thankfully whomever did this left their head, and most of the body is likewise intact. It's almost one whole person, save for the dismemberment we have going on at leg-level.

However, it also seems like somebody did, in fact, also just stab someone; given the amount of blood happening around this person's midsection, it's safe to assume that a lot of stabbing or...something may have happened here, along with everything else. Either way, there's a lot of blood pooled on the floor, and while the body may have been mutilated that doesn't mean that the corpse is unidentifiable - if anything, she's likely one of the more distinctive ones.

After all, there's only one of you left with long blonde hair like that, the edges tinged slightly with green.

It likely goes without saying that she doesn't move when approached; she doesn't stir or acknowledge anyone's presence, and she doesn't seem to be breathing - as such, there's only one conclusion to be drawn.

Milla Maxwell is dead.]

[innocentloveholic]

[ Aligula's here too, she's... gonna grab Elda's arm so she can get lazily walked along. Ugh, she doesn't even mind blood but the smell is everywhere here... ]

G'morning, Indomitableeee... I'm totally guessing someone decided to muck everything up like they do every week?

[matchbreaker]

From the smell it could be three people. Or some particularly nasty stabbing.

[ She's actually leaning in on Aligula a little. She's... she's so tired. Ugh. She tried to sleep in preparation but now she's been up and it's gross. ]

[matchbreaker]

.... Holy hell we've lost both of the gods now?

[ The drama of her saying that might be ruined a little by her yawn. Oops? ]

[innocentloveholic]

[ ...Yeah, she can lean on her if she wants, that's fine. ]

Or three people with particularly nasty stabbings?

[matchbreaker]

If we get to that point, half of us might be dead in some crazy gambit to save everyone. Hell, I considered that.

[ Yawn. ]

[hesperos]

[ He probably made his way up the stairs eventually to see...that. Okay, well that's pretty damn unfortunate. ]

Seems like someone decoded to go all the way.

[ Which shouldn't be surprising but still. ]

[innocentloveholic]

...Wow, someone just totally went to town on her, huh?

[ aligula why are you like this. ]

[heritrix]

[Well the only way to go is up here, when scouring the halls on a Friday. The crowd definitely draws attention, and... Oh god.]

...Where are her legs?

[evilfrenzy]

[...so this is what Rideaux hears as he is the next to appear from the stairwell.]

...Well then.

[Fuckin' bye, Maxwell.

Maybe he'll put a coherent thought about this together at some point, but for now he's actually pretty stunned.]

[trustfellows]

[It seems there are a few things missing, here. Milla's legs. The culprit's restraint.

The body announcement, despite the fact that there are a lot of you gathered in this hallway...]

[heritrix]

[YEAH, SHE WAS GETTING WORRIED ABOUT THAT...

Uh, Rin's just going to go ahead and shakily move away from the crowd now, following any blood trails leading away from Milla's body. Is there anyone else on this floor? If not, she might just note where the blood trail leads before heading upwards.]

[bloodbiter]

[Y i k e s.

She's going to head up to the fifth floor to see if there's anything immediately amiss there upon entering the hallway.]

[matchbreaker]

Oh. ... Does that mean there's more?

[ Look. she's slow on the uptake and with the Chie Archer thing we kind of found both at once. ]

[innocentloveholic]

[ elda that's sort of not the best thing to admit to when there is a dead body present!? ]

That'd be sweet, I guess...? [ ? ? ? ] Like, totally misguided since there being two killers before totally didn't stop us from figuring it out before, but...

[trustfellows]

[Oh, trust me. There is a lot happening on this floor once you've recovered enough from the corpse being right there to focus on it. If you choose to follow it, though, at least it won't lead to any more bodies on the fourth floor, and we can catch you during the rest of the investigation proper.]