★01 ; early morning on 3/27

[dragoness]

[ good morning, pinecones! guess what, your phone is ringing! you know what that means.

the call begins with a loud, satisfied siiiiigh as eliza leans back, and the grin is obvious in her voice. ]

Haaa, finally! This place gets interesting!

Fear not, townspeople! Soon, you'll all be able to consume the water once more! [ she hasn't been drinking it because, well, servant. she doesn't need it. ] Eri-chan★The Hero has saved you all! I know you'll all feel indebted to me, so you can pay your respects whenever you see me, don't worry-★! I accept all forms of adoration, but I have a soft spot for handing out autographs and taking photos with my fans.

But, you see, [ she lowers her voice to a coy whisper, and that grin gets deeper ] someone had poisoned the water just up the river! Scandal! [ gasping, really pouring on the drama now ] Someone had a bad, bad time and ended up six feet - well, inches - under!

Do you hear what I'm saying?

[ a pause.......... and eliza continues in a whisper again, a hand cupped over the reciever of the phone: ]

Rotting away, this thing fed into the water you all drink! [ an excited giggle, because really, this place was boring as hell until now ] But your brave★hero has found the body and with some work, things will be fine again. Are there any heroes BR★VE enough to help me?

[ and with another giggle, eliza hangs up. ]

( OOC; this message will disappear 3 minutes and 56 seconds after it's posted, but anyone who picks up the call when it first rings will be able to hear it in full. anyone is free to stop by murderhouse in order to talk to eliza more about what happens, but really, it's jack and ibaraki who found the body, and nyx who guarded it! HERE is the OOC thread for context!

this post is open for replies both on the call and in person, feel free to actionspam or network reply here, and thread-jacking is a-okay. WE STILL NEED A FEW MORE PEOPLE TO HELP WITH THE MYSTERY, so if you're interested in joining in, come do so! if anyone needs a convenient plot device, jack knows curaga, and healing magic will work in eliminating the symptoms as long as the character doesn't drink the tainted water again. )

Comments

[banshe]

[ Minutes before, she'd had the phone to her ear. Not because she was talking to anyone in particular, no — Lydia was searching for a voice. She'd press the phone to her ear, hoping to hear a message again, not from someone on the line, but someone who knew something that wasn't being said. Because she'd heard it so clearly that day in the storm, repeating and repeating and repeating, like a warning, like a far away signal ...

— there's blood in the water, there's blood in the water, there's blood in the water —

She'd heard it so clearly once she'd focused, once she'd sought to listen to the echoing screams. The banshee in her reaching out for something to assure her she hadn't been mad in all of this. But the voice had never returned back, as if it had all been a dream. And she'd convinced herself that it was. That she was merely losing her mind. That the banshee in her was a lie.

But then she slams the phone back down just before it rings. A true ring, a true call. Breathing harshly, she snatches the phone back up and presses it to her ear. Rotting away, this thing fed into the water you all drink. There's blood in the water. There's blood in the water. There's blood in the water. ]

Hello? Hello? What did you say?!

[dragoness]

[ hey, she recognizes that voice! ]

Ah, is that Lydia? [ she grins still, propping her chin up on a hand ] Are your boots dry now?

[ as if that is the most pressing matter at hand. ]

[banshe]

[ How can anybody be so chipper at a time like this? Oh god, is this how she used to be when she was ignorant to everything? ]

It doesn't matter. What did you say about the water?

[bulletfool]

[ not the type to rush for the phone, izumi picks up the call just in time to hear the revelation about the water. it's so obscene that he breaks into a scandalized grin at the end of the message. ]

Seriously!? That's kind of gross . . . What do you need help with?

[dragoness]

I'd say "find the killer, solve the mystery," but where's the fun in that!

[ eliza no, the other people involved in this want to figure the whole thing out. ]

The whole thing's disgusting and falling apart, and someone already took one of the arms. [ ibaraki ] You want a piece?

[ that's basically some weird-ass way of saying they need help moving the body. ]

[bulletfool]

[ oh, that's straight-up nasty. people want to sleep soundly at night, lady. ]

No.

[ that almost comes out as a laugh—the laughter of disbelief. who does she think he is, her? ]

But if you need to move the body, I don't mind helping out.

[dragoness]

[ who wants to sleep soundly when there's more exciting things happening? stay awake, my friends, for the crazies come out at night. ]

Mmmm~, I dunno~... [ she seems to be contemplating this, and on her end of the phone her tail is flicking back and forth, as though taking time. ] What are your qualifications?

[bulletfool]

To move a body? Do I seriously need special skills for that?

[ there are trained experts who move bodies with minimal tampering for examination, he supposes, but isn't the priority to get the corpse out of the water? ]

[smuttywitch]

[it shouldn't be comforting to know for sure it wasn't food related, but really, Rachel didn't want another Turn happening so as much as this girl's giggling about a dead body ticks her off, she's still kind of relieved]

What kind of help are you looking for?

[dragoness]

Only help from the BR★VEST of BR★VE heroes!

[ ahhhhh, she's definitely sounding like she's totally excited about this whole thing ]

What kinda help you offering?

[smuttywitch]

[the Turn take it, as much as she wants to roll her eyes, the excitement's rubbing off on Rachel. Being an adernaline junkie is a problem]

Muscle or magic. I'm not much good at planning, but you've got a problem that could use one of those as a solution, I'm your girl.

[dragoness]

[ ah! something about the way this person says "magic" flicks a switch in eliza's head. she recognizes this voice! ]

We~eeell, we could probably use a couple people to help move the body. If we all wanna get a better look at it, that is.

[smuttywitch]

[okay, even by Rachel standards, hauling a corpse through town sounds stupid. Man she wants her car]

O--kay. Uh, I could probably whip up a spell to help you move it without getting the wrong kind of attention.

[dragoness]

[ luckily some houses come with cars, she can steal one from an empty house ]

Awww, no pushing our luck?

[ this is a good idea though, even eliza can see that ]

[smuttywitch]

[okay, that gets a smirk from Rachel that can clearly be heard over the line]

Normally, I'm all for pushing my luck as far as it'll go. But I usually draw the line when corpses are involved.

[she's just glad she didn't have to volunteer to touch the thing. She's bad at crime scenes for a lot of reasons]

1/3

[dragoness]

What sort of cowardly lion is that?!

[dragoness]

[ ah ]

[dragoness]

Line.

[ ahem ]

Anyway, it's not like there's anyone watching us. But ya might have to grab a bucket for all that goop it's got falling off the bone.

[smuttywitch]

[thank you for making her laugh Eliza.

...before you made her gag]

Ew.

Okay, yeah I'll...do that.

[dragoness]

[ she heard that ]

Is there something wrong?

[smuttywitch]

Nope, I'm good, I'm...great. Totally fine.

I just need to gather some plants. And maybe get my hands on some tequila for after we've got this done.

i'm so sorry

[dragoness]

[ oh you're not getting out of it that easily, rachel. eliza's found the weakness, and now she's gotta lean on it. her voice carries a sickly sweet tone, like she's trying to be concerned. ]

I just wanna make sure you're prepared for when you go up there. This thing's been rotting in wet mud for who knows how long! And that little chicken, the one that looks like an angry banana? Apparently, she just ripped out an arm!

Pop!

Re: i'm so sorry

[smuttywitch]

[she's just glad she remembers the stuff she saw back in Cincinati so she's not as grossed out as she might be.

Still grossed out, but not enough to actually get sick. She does take a deep breath though, before clearly forcing a smile]

I'll be good. I've seen way grosser stuff before.

[she wishes that was a lie]

[keephimtalking]

[ Well, that was one way to announce a potential murder.

So that's why the water smelled so funky and all the humans were getting so sick. It's like that time with the dead Vorcha in the water tank all over again. ]

I got an omni-tool with a sensory suite that can do field readings for that stuff.

[ A pause and then, somewhat hesitantly. ]

Did you guys contact the Sheriff already?

[dragoness]

[ eliza has no idea what an "omni-tool" is, nor what it can do, so she's going to ignore that for now: ]

Hell no! Why would I do that?

Sorry for being so late!

[keephimtalking]

[ Squint.

Okay, that sounds like the kind of trouble that might be worth avoiding if he wants to keep a business here. ]

Aaaalright. Well, good luck with that then I guess.