sixth investigation

[airlockedmods]

[It's Friday again but as of today it has been a full two weeks since someone has lost their life. The mansion is quiet, almost peaceful.

But we all know peace can only last so long in the Fantasy Sweet.]

Comments

[misanthropicprinciple]

No defensive wounds... What the hell, Nishitani-san.

[He clenches both fists, then shakes his head sharply.

Anything else on the body?]

[airlockedmods]

[There's something colorful clenched in both his hands.]

[misanthropicprinciple]

[Nani the fuck? Gently tries to unclench one of his hands enough to get it free.]

[airlockedmods]

[It's flowers. A sprig of marigolds in one hand and geraniums in the other.]

[misanthropicprinciple]

--Yuuri. Flowers.

[WHAT ARE THEEEEEEEEEESE]

[serrata]

Ah--

[ Hurrying over so she can see. ]

Um... [ pointing to one hand ] those are marigolds. And [ pointing to the other ] those are geraniums.

[misanthropicprinciple]

Marigolds... for remembrance.

[Kick him in the fucking heart, Murderer-san.]

And the others?

[serrata]

Th--they mean, um... ingenuity and... unexpected meetings? And "friendship" -- that sort of thing. I, um-- I put some on his bookmark for him and...

[ she trails off on thought for a moment, suddenly struck by something she's not entirely sure she wants to voice. ]

[misanthropicprinciple]

...Did you put marigolds on his bookmark, too?

[He notes that pause, but he wants to see if there's a pattern or something first.]

[serrata]

[ She shakes her head. ]

No... just yours. I made his with fuchsias and geraniums and--

[ She presses her palm to her forehead, willing herself to think faster, to remember. ]

A--and gladioli... I think...? But definitely no marigolds.

[misanthropicprinciple]

So I was the only one with marigolds... was he the only one with geraniums?

...

I'm just asking so we know for sure there's no correlation. If there isn't, that'll tell us something else.

[serrata]

I... yes, you were the only one with marigolds and I didn't use geraniums for anybody else, either. I tried as hard as I could not to double up flowers for anyone, unless they were supposed to have a pair.

[ She hesitates for a moment and then says; ]

... but... when we were talking on Monday, after I gave all the bookmarks out -- Q--Queenie-san told me, in magic -- geraniums are supposed to be used for... protection charms? Maybe they were working on something together.

[misanthropicprinciple]

Ah...

[Welp this is now too sad for words. ANYTHING ELSE ON THE BODY, MODS?]

[airlockedmods]

[Not on the body! But there's a bit of a void in the blood by his head, like someone had braced their hand there.]

[misanthropicprinciple]

[Uh. Hm. He stares at it for a moment, trying to picture the timeline--if someone had their hand there when they slit Nishitani's throat, stands to reason they'd get arterial spray all over their damn hand.

Any smears or blood droplets leading away from that spot?]

[airlockedmods]

[No.]

[misanthropicprinciple]

It looks like... He was already down when his throat was slit. There's a space here where...

[He points vaguely at the space in the blood splatter.]

...If he was already lying here, the perp could have crouched over him with the knife in one hand and held himself up there, and...

[He doesn't really think he needs to say more.]

[serrata]

So they... while he was sleeping...?

[ She was mad enough that anyone would kill Nishitani in the first place obviously but this. What the fuck, honestly. ]

[misanthropicprinciple]

Out here, in his suit?

[There is so much here out of place it seems ridiculous to expect anything more, but he looks around one more time, to see if there's anything a cursory glance can find before he leaves this to Ardyn and disinfects his entire arm.]

[airlockedmods]

[There's only one more thing that looks out of place in here, a little glass vial lying on it's side a little ways away from the body, away from the blood.]

[misanthropicprinciple]

Ardyn, could you... I don't want to get blood on that.

[scourgingstars]

Yes, of course.

[he's just going to reach over and pick that up--anything notable about it?]

[airlockedmods]

[The vial is nearly empty with just a little bit of clear liquid residue on the bottom.]

[scourgingstars]

[that's probably fine--no labeling or anything of the slightly incriminating sort?]

Do either of you recognize this? I don't believe I've seen it before.

[airlockedmods]

[Nope, no label. Just clear glass.]