some sunny day

[sticksandbomesmods]

Its the early morning, the sun has been up for about an hour or two with the quiet stirring of the Grove. The town slowly wakes up, and goes about their morning...

There is a smell in the halls of the Inn. Subtle in the early hours, but as the sun rises higher in the sky, it becomes difficult to ignore. Pungent and sharp. It's the smell of warm milk on the cusp of growing sour.

Under one of the doors a bright, almost pearlescent substance, that has started to leak out.


Uncovered Clues:

1. Unlocked door.
2. Signs of light scuffling
3. Upended box of pastries
4. Stabbed in the heart, likely died instantly
5. Wound is small with no exit wound.
6. Window is Adjacent to Body
7. Dipper's blood is two different colors, red and pearlescent white. The pearl blood seems older. The red blood comes straight from the wound.
8. body is cold and has been dead some time.
9. Noise at 10-11 pm
10. Dipper left a note for his uncles he was meeting a friend.
11. KNIFE

Comments

[eidxiety]

[He hates this, he's sorry Dipper but he has to check. People here have weird blood and he knows that because he is also a weird-blood-haver. After three more apologies, he's going to skedaddle over to the pearl-coloured blood.

Is it still wet? Dry? Can he scoop that with his opposite hand and tell anything about it like magical properties (he is an angel/can sense supernatural things??) or if the texture is different?

Mutter mutter,]

I wonder if Mr. Crane can identify whose blood this is, since he did blood draws on most of us...

[Odile was not here to experience this, this was a while ago, but Ain wonders this aloud as he flits about.]

[sticksandbomesmods]

[Some of its still wet! Have fun scooping it! The consistency isn't much different but it's definitely more magical. Though, it's notable that the magic between the red and pearl blood is the same, just that the pearl blood is way more potent.]

[It's probably worth asking Mr. Crane, though. Who knows!]

[alphacraft]

[ Odile was already looking back at the room, thinking through several problems, when she hears... that happening. She turns to look, makes a face, and promptly look away again.

She's read enough murder mysteries to have some idea of what to look for, but it's very different when put in to practice. But if Dipper was against the door, then where did the assailant go? Out the window, maybe? ]

I'll have to take your word for it. I've never seen blood in so light a shade before... and I wouldn't know if the color has any significance.

[sticksandbomesmods]

[There is a window on the other side of the room directly across from where Dipper's body was found, though it's covered with a thick curtain to keep the light out.]

[eidxiety]

[When I commit the cardinal sin of playercest and Ain whines to Gnosis like MR. CRANE DO YOU KNOW THE ANSWER :( anyway that's cheatin' so Ain's just gonna

wipe his fingers on a tissue :')]

His blood is magical. —haha, sorry, I know that sounds weird. The pearl-coloured blood has a pretty potent amount of magic coursing through it. I don't know what to make of it, because I didn't know Mr. Sou Sou that well, magically-speaking. Um...

[...]

He's been dead for several hours. Just by the way.

[Anxiety level increasing... Ain is not equipped to do an autopsy and it's very clear one isn't needed, but it's the wound that bothers him. Are there any drag marks/blood droplets/"the body was moved here/the body was killed here" type forensic marks, or is it just what was described above?]

[sticksandbomesmods]

[Sure looks like he was stabbed up against the door and died pretty damn quick.]

[Though, no blood on the door. Whatever got him wasn't long enough to leave an exit wound.

[alphacraft]

Several hours? That's useful information.

[ She's going to open up those curtains. ]

[sticksandbomesmods]

[Sunlight!!!! Its kind of bright out there. Outside is...well, the outside of the Inn. Some bushes.]

[Something glinting.]

[theuniverseleads]

[me finally realizing this is outside so Loop can just Be Here, surprise bitch

They are mostly drawn to the noise but WHAT is in those bushes]

[sticksandbomesmods]

[what's loop see?]

[A KNIFE]

[It has quite a bit of pearly residue.]

[theuniverseleads]

[oh hey cool a free knife! they're gonna poke the weird stuff on it like it isn't someone's freakish squid blood]

[sticksandbomesmods]

[That was a dogshit roll, so it doesn't take long for Loop to start to feel a little weird! Is the ground breathing? Everything is moving kind of funny around you.]

[Actually, it might kind of remind you of that time everyone got trapped in dreams a few months ago, that should feel pretty familiar. Wait why did everything flash red for a second. What's that in the sky???]

[And then suddenly its gone but that feeling of feeling high as shit lingers.]

[alphacraft]

[ Odile pokes her head out the open window as soon as she sees Loop outside. ]

Loop! Stay right there.

[theuniverseleads]

[staying put for the Researcher because they are tripping the FUCK out rn stars above where this this come from, why is the ground doing that]

[eidxiety]

[Cool cool, while Odile checks out the window (because Ain is having the same thought but doesn't want to get in the way), he doesn't know what else to do here other than to make Dipper comfortable (Ain he's dead) so he just

scoops this wholeass teenager into bed and covers him with the blankets.

This is what they do when humans die right, they make them look like they were resting peacefully...]

Ms. Old Lady— [why] —whatever weapon got him didn't leave an exit wound. It was probably something small. A dagger, I'm guessing?

[cryptograms]

[ As far as Ford knows, he and Stan walking to the inn to meet his still-living nephew for the day.

But as he draws closer he can tell that something is off. The scent in the air is wrong—and familiar. It only takes him half a moment to place it. He's been around too much spilled Paleblood, both Dipper's and otherwise, to not recognize it. And for the smell to be that obvious before there's any sight of the stuff...

Ford starts running. He makes a bee-line for Dipper's dark room, barely even glancing at Mafuyu before he throws open the door. ]

Dipper!

[ He's pretty sure he knows what he's going to find, but... he can't just accept that. Maybe if he calls out, Dipper will respond. ]

[charlastan]

[Stan isn't far behind him. It isn't a secret that he's been a little on edge about the possibility of October being as screwed up as it's been in other worlds, but it's been a couple of days and things are fine.

Or, they were fine.

Stan smells it too - something about how their blood pollutes the air, blah blah, that doesn't matter right now. Stan grips The Red Herring tight (more like how one would carry a weapon than a cane) and sprints off after Ford. There's a moment where he literally crashes into some girl and stumbles after he bounces off her, but he rights himself quick enough and rushes the last leg. Something's wrong, he knows it before he even sees it, he can smell it he can feel it.

He catches himself on the door frame, breathing hard.]

--Dipper!

[No response.

No response...

Stan can feel tears welling up but he makes himself jump right to the point, looking from the blood left behind and the people in the room. Finally, he asks the obvious:]

What the FUCK happened in here?!

[alphacraft]

[ Odile just hums in response to Ain's statement. It wouldn't be hard for anyone to get their hands on a dagger. What is that out there...? She's about to open the window to see if she can figure it out when the door slams open.

She spins to see who it is this time and winces. At least Ain got the body covered up before they arrived.

What do you say to someone in this situation? She looks over at the boy's body, then at the floor. ]

...I'm sorry. I don't know.

[eidxiety]

[haha oh]

Ah... I came in a bit later. We were just investigating... [MMMMMM Ain does not like this one bit, you guys shouldn't have to see this. He doesn't want to stand in the way, but he does stand off to the side and glances down at Dipper. Look more peaceful motherfucker your family is here for your funeral.] ...I'm really sorry. I arrived too late to heal him.

[cryptograms]

[ While Stan is stating to cry, Ford is starting to shut down. After his expression moves through the standards and 'realization', 'horror', and a brief stop at 'grief', he starts to go blank. A moment later all that's left in his expression is focused anger. ]

... You would have had to have shown up before sunrise to help.

[ Ford pauses, reaching out to grasp Stan's shoulder for a moment, making sure he's going to be... well, not okay, but functional enough to not need extra support.

Then he takes a step forward. He's staring down at Dipper's sheet-covered body, but makes no move to remove the sheet just yet. ]

I don't suppose anyone heard anything last night?

[sticksandbomesmods]

[Anyone up at around 10 or 11pm might have heard something get knocked over if they lived close enough to his room.]

[charlastan]

[Stan's heart is a little too big for him to shut down completely, but he's used to having to move through grief when something needs to be done. It's easier to focus on what will help right now - figuring out what the fuck happened.

He believes Odile and Ain, even if he has nothing to say to their apologies immediately. It doesn't matter. It can't matter right now. He takes a deeeep breath when Ford touches his shoulder, pushes it down, and presses on.]

So. Sometime between sunrise and...whenever he left us this.

[He reaches in his pocket and pulls out the note Dipper left behind. Ford's seen it, so he's mostly just sharing with the rest of the class.]

If we can figure out who he was meeting, we might have a lead.

[alphacraft]

[ Thank you, Expressions of Family and Grief, they're taking this in stride. She's terrible at dealing with the kind of emotions young adults experience daily. The death of a loved one? She'd be lucky if they didn't run her out of town.

She turns back to open the window. ]

I heard some noises, but nothing too unusual for the inn. No... shouting or screaming or anything of that sort.

[eidxiety]

Ahh... I'm sorry, but I don't live at the inn. I live with Ezell at the bakery north of here...

[He glances at the note briefly, raising a brow.]

We can probably start with who lives at the inn, right? To be honest, I know who lives away from it more than I know who lives in it. That's, um...

Ezell, Mr. Demon, Mr. Crane, Mr. Jellyfish, Mr. Pigeon, Mr. Dragon, Mr. Snow Leopard... I'm not sure about the Cookies, but I think they all live with Mr. Sheep, including Ms. Time Mage, but you'd have to ask. I know Mx. Star lives outside in a tree, Ser Kitty lives in the barn, Mr. Bartender lives at the bar, and Mr. Giant, Mr. Plant, and Nikolaus all live at that house to the far south of here, across the river.

[guys i am so sorry about this]

I think the people I didn't mention live here.

gagtag also but not really

[eidxiety]