THE SECOND INVESTIGATION

[airlockedmods]

[Friday is quiet. Seth will find his Champion unitards once again in his closet, Togami will find the collar and baby carrier both unlock to let him take them off, and the ring toss game is gone. By itself, this isn't too ominous; the sabotages were due to end on Friday anyway, and the "motive" earlier in the week had left people in arguably better spirits than they'd begun it.

But there's something...off, anyway. Especially on the second floor. And, well, it's officially been a full week since the last time someone tried to make a bid for escape...

>Investigate?]

Comments

[airlockedmods]

[As in lemonade.

There's no obvious marks on the table, but the whole thing does smell very faintly of bleach.]

[bylight]

[Bleach... She looks under the table. Anything there?

[airlockedmods]

[There is nothing under the table. However, while you're down there, you may notice that there seems to be something stuffed beneath the seat cushion.]

[bylight]

[Oho! Is it easy to pull out? Or will she have to lift the cushion?]

[airlockedmods]

[It's pretty easy to pull out.

Though, considering that what you pull out is some small scraps of torn-up paper, you might want to make sure you've got them all.]

[bylight]

[Well, hopefully the Overseers won't mind a damaged chair then because that cushion is going bye bye.

Is there writing on the torn pieces?]

[cyan_maid]

[Quietly coming over to also look at the torn paper.]

cw: suicidal imagery

[airlockedmods]

[There is!

It would probably take you a while to put the pieces together, considering there's enough here to make up multiple sheets of paper. But the words involved are all pretty similar: things like "I'm sorry", "I cannot", "this place", and "this game."]

cw: suicidal imagery

[bylight]

[That's worrying. Are they all the same handwriting?]

[airlockedmods]

[There seems to be some variance in the handwriting used. Some fragments look very similar; others, not quite so much.]

[bylight]

[... hmm... she has an idea of what's going on. Anything else strange about the pieces?]

[airlockedmods]

[You've about covered it.]

[bylight]

[Cool. Off to get ready for a trial then.]

[cyan_maid]

[Yeah noticing that variance right away.]

Is...was someone trying to copy someone else's handwriting? They picked a poor place to hide their attempt.

[Starting to snap back into herself at last!]

[bylight]

Looks like it. It would make sense if they were trying to cover their tracks.

[Didn't the culprit learn from last week?]

Not doing a good job.

[cyan_maid]

But...even though we can make out some fragments, it's going to be difficult to figure out who might've done it based on this. There might be enough variation that, even by just comparing handwriting, it wouldn't help. Still - a clue is a clue.

[Pause. Sniff, sniff - covering nose.]

Goodness, why does it reek of bleach in here?!