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Post by Collin1002 on Jun 10, 2023 6:53:19 GMT
"... I'm fairly certain it's a real corpse, Greg," Finn deadpanned, giving him an annoyed glare. "So Saber is no longer with us... oh well. Lost Prophet, though... that's a new one."
He simply shrugged, like he hadn't just seen a dead body in front of him.
"Regardless, five threats are among us. We'll just have to weed them out and have them be incinerated instead of us. I'd personally prefer to not die a horrible, gruesome death. Even though it'll probably require..."
He sneered a bit like he had eaten a very sour candy, the mere thought of the next word he was going to say disgusting him.
"... ugh. Teamwork. Just don't fuck this up and we'll be fine. Well, those opposing us won't be, but they should've thought of that sooner."
He eyed each person surrounding him.
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Post by Panda on Jun 10, 2023 9:17:15 GMT
"Oh god, oh jeez! Oooh that's not good, that, this is really bad, very not good!" Andrea babbled, eyes darting between points of interest around the scene. "Uh, let's see, well, the system would know if there were anyone else hiding, at least, so... Um! We should really put Carbon back in his containment unit first, right?"
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Post by Neotelenta on Jun 10, 2023 14:22:43 GMT
Vincent clenches his teeth as he sees the dead body of Saber. He had seen his fair share of death in the years he had worked here, but these circumstances seemed different.
“Lost Prophet, huh?” Vincent grips his weapon. “Saber’s too smart to have aggravated it. This has to be a set up.” Vincent looks over the steel cross and tsks at the craftsmanship before looking over Saber’s body. He gives a suspecting glance to everyone there.
“If we’re lucky, he has some information on who is responsible for this. Anyone volunteer to check his pockets?” Vincent inquires, eying everyone else in the room.
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Post by Safy on Jun 10, 2023 15:59:47 GMT
Enid muttered incoherently to herself, then started sobbing. “Don't disrupt his body.....please......” She was absolutely distressed by his death, and had hardly paid attention to anything the AI said.
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Post by Panda on Jun 10, 2023 16:10:35 GMT
"Well, someone stabbed him with a metal cross," Andrea pointed out, eyeing Vincent. "After hitting his head with some kind of blunt instrument, like, say, a mace. Just saying!" She began to talk a lot faster in panic. "I think it would be pretty stupid for you to do all that though, you'd obviously look like the first suspect and I don't think you're dumb enough to make a mistake like that, oh, but, not that I'm saying anyone else here is dumb either, you know! Just that maybe someone was trying to set you up? But maybe that's too obvious and maybe it's just a coincidence, I mean, speaking of coincidences we've got not one, but two muscly priests with us, you know, these things happen sometimes, so I mean, maybe there's some other meaning behind it you know?"
She stopped to catch her breath before she passed out from oxygen deprivation. "Um... regardless, he must have been murdered. Probably by one of us. Another case of Abnormality influence? If someone's being controlled they might have been pretty sloppy, so they might have left clues. Oh, but, if Abnormality mind control or whatever makes a person sloppy, then it's possible Vincent really is the one who did it! Oh that would be bad, really bad, though I guess it's bad regardless of who did it, um, right, let's just... let's start by examining him. Yes. Probably best left to a member of the Cleaning department?"
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Post by Doctor Nanjo M.D. on Jun 10, 2023 17:19:55 GMT
One of them bends down to investigate the corpse, they find a letter.
“Wow! And he was just recently promoted, too! What a shame that he died before he could transfer to corporate.”
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Post by satan on Jun 10, 2023 18:42:00 GMT
"Oh god, oh jeez! Oooh that's not good, that, this is really bad, very not good!" Andrea babbled, eyes darting between points of interest around the scene. "Uh, let's see, well, the system would know if there were anyone else hiding, at least, so... Um! We should really put Carbon back in his containment unit first, right?" Scott paused in his cleaning long enough to snort at Andrea. "We're locked in here. Nowhere else to go. By all means, Carbon is in a containment unit. Therefore, we should really focus our efforts on finding whoever did this. Then we can get back to work safely." He attacked a particularly stubborn bloody stain furiously, but growled angrily when it refused to become clean. Oh well.
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Post by dootdoot on Jun 10, 2023 18:57:57 GMT
Scott paused in his cleaning long enough to snort at Andrea. "We're locked in here. Nowhere else to go. By all means, Carbon is in a containment unit. Therefore, we should really focus our efforts on finding whoever did this. Then we can get back to work safely." He attacked a particularly stubborn bloody stain furiously, but growled angrily when it refused to become clean. Oh well. "Um. I know it's company policy. But. Should we be cleaning up the crime scene here...?" Fran asked, unaware there would be no evidence to be found here as per the mechanics of the game. "No! That's so sad... He was just one day away from being put in the safe stasis chamber we put agents in the day before they're transferred to corporate!"
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Post by notbadplayer on Jun 10, 2023 19:11:44 GMT
"It's okay, once we find who the five threats are, the lockdown will end and we can revive Saber :D YIPPEE!!!"
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Post by Safy on Jun 10, 2023 19:27:39 GMT
Enid wiped away the tears, getting the blood from her hands all over her face, looking at Greg with bloodshot and tear stained eyes , “R-really….. is that what she said….” She sniffed, trying to hold back more tears, “can he really come back…..” She was so far into the copium she was willing to believe anything that meant she could see Saber again, but, you know, alive.
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Post by Panda on Jun 10, 2023 20:20:39 GMT
Scott paused in his cleaning long enough to snort at Andrea. "We're locked in here. Nowhere else to go. By all means, Carbon is in a containment unit. Therefore, we should really focus our efforts on finding whoever did this. Then we can get back to work safely." "It's basic protocol for a reason! Abnormalities can be dangerous. Even the harmless-looking ones. I mean, other than You're Bald obviously, which goes without saying, but then again they don't let anyone else work with that one even though it just wants to enlighten people... Uh! Drifted off topic there, um, that is, unless anyone has a clear understanding of Carbon's traits we should probably just be safe about it. It'll only take a few minutes anyway." She was babbling again, under the pressure of Scott's scorn. "It's okay, once we find who the five threats are, the lockdown will end and we can revive Saber :D YIPPEE!!!" "Is that... I don't know if that's how that works," Andrea said quietly. "I mean, I don't know how it works, but..."
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Post by notbadplayer on Jun 10, 2023 20:52:02 GMT
"Is that... I don't know if that's how that works," Andrea said quietly. "I mean, I don't know how it works, but..." "Well the reviving box thingamajig isn't in the Information Department, but once we're out of lockdown we can have the higher-ups cram Saber's corpse into it. He's such a good boss, I'm sure they'll be more than willing to bring him back if we say please!" He speaks with experience.
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Post by Doctor Nanjo M.D. on Jun 10, 2023 20:57:51 GMT
“Perhaps one of the other members of the information department were jealous that Saber got promoted. After all, despite appearances he was infamously poor at his job.”
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Post by JoyTheBard (Slezak) on Jun 10, 2023 21:58:27 GMT
"Yeah . . . yeah, he can come back. That's right . . . ! But, that means this goes further than simply wanting Saber d-d-dead," Josephine said in a shaky tone. Motioning toward Greg for emphasis, Josephine went on, "Death isn't permanent here, so . . . killing out of jealousy doesn't make any sense." As much of a shithole this society had become, the fact that death's permanence seemed to have been conquered lent a small glimmer of hope any time such a death happened. Notwithstanding the fact that in order to persuade Lunares to revive someone, they had to be proven useful to the company's mission.
"But . . . " Josephine continued, "How can we be so certain that everyone that was involved in whatever this was got trapped in here alongside the rest of us? Couldn't someone have slipped out before the lockdown happened?"
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Post by Panda on Jun 10, 2023 23:09:21 GMT
"The lockdown probably started the moment Saber died," Andrea said. "The system seemed pretty sure of what it was talking about." She didn't have the same confidence in the resurrection system as some of the others seemed to. It was black magic to her, and she wasn't sure there was any guarantee Saber really would be brought back. “Perhaps one of the other members of the information department were jealous that Saber got promoted. After all, despite appearances he was infamously poor at his job.” "Wasn't... wasn't he, um, famously good at his job?" Andrea squeaked out, a little intimidated by the woman. Who was she, anyway?
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Post by notbadplayer on Jun 10, 2023 23:11:52 GMT
“Perhaps one of the other members of the information department were jealous that Saber got promoted. After all, despite appearances he was infamously poor at his job.”
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Post by Safy on Jun 10, 2023 23:47:10 GMT
"He was the best at his job...!" Enid exclaimed a bit too quickly to defend the dead man’s honor beforehand muttering, realizing she sounded too defensive, “…. Or…. So I’ve heard……I’m not a part of the information team so…..” she mumbled under her breath, calming down at the fact there was a chance for revival even if she personally wasn’t too familiar with that sort of thing. "……… this is just so …” she sighed, “overwhelming.”
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Post by satan on Jun 10, 2023 23:59:43 GMT
Scott paused in his cleaning, and for once, his face softened to that of grief and sadness.
"You get used to it," he said quietly, looking to the dead man's corpse. "You see enough death in your daily life, you get... turned off to it. Hold onto that feeling, Enid. Don't let this place kill that from you like it did for me."
He picked up his mop again, shaking it clean, then produced a long bag that he shook out, unzipped, and started gently placing the former Information head into.
"I'll preserve the body as best I can. Maybe Greg is right and they'll bring him back. Who knows. It's not my business. Father Pliny, Father Vincent. Would either of you like to offer some words for this departed soul?"
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Post by Doctor Nanjo M.D. on Jun 11, 2023 0:36:33 GMT
“Really? I heard as part of the information team he was easily able to keep up appearances. Perhaps those closer to him can comment.”
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Post by dootdoot on Jun 11, 2023 0:39:06 GMT
“Perhaps one of the other members of the information department were jealous that Saber got promoted. After all, despite appearances he was infamously poor at his job.” "Huh? No way! Is that true, uh..." Fran asked, furrowing her brow. "... Wait, who said that?"
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Post by Neotelenta on Jun 11, 2023 0:56:08 GMT
Vincent nods solemnly and looks to Father Pliny before he folds his hands in prayer, closing his eyes.
“Heavenly Father, we have born witness once again to the cycle of life which you have gifted us. May Saber be delivered to you, and may his soul find rest in what you have prepared for him. He was an honest and upright man and coworker, and he will be dearly missed, but we shall persevere for his sake and I ask that we be granted the strength and wisdom to do so. And just as we work here and labor for our families and friends back home, please keep Saber’s family in good health as they will eventually receive word of Saber’s death. Amen.” Vincent concludes his prayer.
He inhales deeply and exhales. “This cross I bear…” Vincent gestures to his weapon. “This is a family heirloom blessed by the clergy of my hometown and passed down from several generations. I have no use or desire for any other weapon. Whatever cheap excuse of a cross was used to impale Saber was not of my doing. And while I don’t know Father Pliny’s inclinations, to boldly kill with a cross of all things and leave it stuck inside the victim is callous and reckless. I have to have faith that we share the same morals. I can understand the accusations, but I assure you that they fall short of the truth.”
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Post by Doctor Nanjo M.D. on Jun 11, 2023 1:11:50 GMT
“Amen. Shall we begin reading his will?”
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Post by satan on Jun 11, 2023 1:16:23 GMT
Vincent nods solemnly and looks to Father Pliny before he folds his hands in prayer, closing his eyes. “Heavenly Father, we have born witness once again to the cycle of life which you have gifted us. May Saber be delivered to you, and may his soul find rest in what you have prepared for him. He was an honest and upright man and coworker, and he will be dearly missed, but we shall persevere for his sake and I ask that we be granted the strength and wisdom to do so. And just as we work here and labor for our families and friends back home, please keep Saber’s family in good health as they will eventually receive word of Saber’s death. Amen.” Vincent concludes his prayer. Scott does not comment on the end, only zipping up the body bag. "Right. Now to find somewhere to store this for the time being. Unless Hephaestus has any ideas, I will take my leave for now."
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Post by Bad Player on Jun 11, 2023 2:55:06 GMT
"Hmm. Well then." Monty casually tossed the cookie platter aside. "I still have lots of work I can do in this sector. Yes. Definitely. Let's see..." He scans the crowd of employees gathered. "Ah. Yes. Determine which muscle priest is buffer. That is definitely on my agenda. Your cooperation is greatly appreciated."
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Post by NIKI on Jun 11, 2023 2:58:40 GMT
Tangerine joins in on whatever's left of the cleaning efforts with the energy of a sad rock and shaking hands. She doesn't say a word.
Then, the cookie plate is tossed aside. "Come on, man......" she mutters to herself and hurries off to clean the shattered plate and cookie crumbs instead.
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Post by Kachu on Jun 11, 2023 3:24:57 GMT
The group remained to chat for a while about the circumstances they were in, but nobody fessed up to anything. Eventually, regardless of what everyone was thinking and feeling, the group dispersed, hoping to find someone in hiding or another clue to help resolve the situation, or perhaps even a way out. The sound of footprints faded as everyone split up, as the few members of the Cleaning team and others remained by Saber's corpse, opting to help tidy things up, even in this dire situation. The seconds apart turned into minutes, and before long those minutes turned into hours... ---------- HOUR 10 OF LOCKDOWNNobody could find anything of interest, even after a more thorough search. Eventually, however, everyone congregated near the break room once more, at the call of Hephaestus. Slowly, everyone gathers to hear what she has to say. Upon their arrival, one would notice the strange new monitor resting in the middle of the floor. Hephaestus stood next to it. "Okay, okay, because I'm just SO helpful and I want to save all my lovely little employees here, I've decided to chip in! Relax, you can thank me later!" Finn and Greg glanced at each other awkwardly. Andrea, standing somewhere between them, looked even more awkward. "What, um, is that?" Alune asks, a little perplexed. "It's going to be our way out of this situation, of course!" Hephaestus kicks the metal machinery and the display turns into static. She kicks it again, and now it shows some information. (This is the public role list! It's the same as before, I'm afraid! But now you can interact with it!) "If we're going to root out whoever is behind this killing of our very very beloved Information Team Captain, we'll need information! And well, a lot of other stuff, but..." Hephaestus groans and puts a hand to her forehead. "Look, we can't get all bloodbath on each other, right? So we'll use this thing to dig up information on each other! Ah, that's putting it kinda weird, isn't it? We'll be able to read each other's files this way! Isn't that cute?" "Problem with that, though, is it can be pretty hard to work around the system when we're... yknow... all trapped here! Haha..." "So, that's what I'll do! I'll spend this precious few hours we got trying to break through the system in some way... With this little link that I have! Hehe. And while I do that, you'll all need to continue doing your jobs!" "...What?" Delta eyes the AI in front of them, confused. "Wellll... This isn't going to be easy, you know? We're already running on back up energy, now that we've been cut off from the rest of Lunares. If we don't want to run out, and have all the super friendly Abnormalities breach containment all at the same time, we'll have to keep this section full of energy!" Nobody liked the idea of working during this situation, but what Hephaestus said made sense. If the department ever lost power, it'd spell the end for everyone, even if they found the causes of the lockdown. Everyone looks at each other and mumbles. Is all this really going to help, though? Maybe? Nobody can say for certain, but they're not given much time to dwell on it before the display turns to static, shifting to show something else. A hazy image of a blue skull appears on the screen. Everyone nearby steps closer to get a better look. People familiar with the Abnormalities in the Information Team immediately recognize it. It's T-01-66, recently dubbed "Lost Prophet." The Abnormality Saber's corpse was found right in front of. "How do you do, fellow captives?" It smiles wide, flashing its teeth through the display. Its cold, deep voice can be heard through all the speakers inside the department. Hephaestus's eye twitches as she looks down at the display next to her. "I'm glad to see the fifteen of you have returned safely." A cold feeling washes over everyone."Isn't there sixteen of us...?" Fran nervously asks, looking around and doing a head count. "No, no. Surely you must think I'm as good a worker as two people. Happens." Montague "Monty" Montague cracks a weak smile. "Ah! Surely you're right! Sorry!" Fran immediately stops counting, but the same can't be said for the others around her. "No, something's wrong!" Father Pliny, who stepped aside from the group to see easier, calls out to everyone. "Where's Josephine?" The one among the group always making strange comments has seemingly chosen to ignore everyone else, as she's made her way to the break room fridge to open it. But when she does... *THUD*The cold, stiff corpse of the missing Welfare Employee falls out of it, landing on the floor in front of the employees. Nobody has to even check, with the large bloody wound on the back of her head, and the lifelessness in her eyes. Josephine has been killed. "That's not my ice cold beverage..." The mysterious quipping employee quips, looking down at her feet. "How exciting!" The Abnormality cheers from the speakers. "Certainly, she will rest well beyond the sea of feathers and butterfly wings." "I say, now that we're all trapped here together, why don't we play around a little bit? Those of you who already follow me, those who wish to see the father in the stars above! Those who-" Hephaestus slams her fist on the display, causing it to shift once again, removing Lost Prophet from the situation. "Um... Eheheheh... That's not really a good situation for us to be in, isn't it? Haha.." Hephaestus continues to laugh nervously, showing a set of emotions that nobody would ever encounter on her in normal circumstances. A few things have become clear to the group now, though. There's killers among them. And it's becoming increasingly likely that this newer Abnormality has something to do with the situation. (The first Day Phase has begun! Please check your Private Thread before posting! If you want help bringing up the topic, I'm sure our friendly neighborhood AI would be happy to suggest lynching!) [#spoiler=Day Phase Rules:]It's time for an open discussion! Talk about your theories as to who's behind these murders, and vote for an employee to execute! Your votes MUST be public in thread, and please put them in bolded text. Votes made privately in your private thread will not be counted. There is no abstaining. There is no no-kill. Someone must die. If there's no majority by the end of the deadline, the employee with the most votes will be executed, or it will be randomly chosen. The same will happen if there's a tie. Good luck! You have 24 hours until the Noon Phase. To speed things along, feel free to include a vote for the four employees you'd like to work today, also in bolded text. Same rules as the other vote, it must be made public in this thread![/spoiler]
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Post by satan on Jun 11, 2023 3:39:35 GMT
Scott eyed the corpse, raising a brow at it. "Well. That's not good. Somebody did a no-no oopsie-day and killed Josephine."
His voice was completely deadpan, and he sighed, lifting his glasses as he rubbed his eyes.
"How did anyone even fit her into the fridge? That's not a sanitary place. Now all the food'll have to be thrown out too, and I'll have to deep clean the entire thing. Haah. Oh well. Guess I'll start work a little early. Oh, do feel free to discuss without me. I'll be listening in."
Once again, the mop, bucket, and gloves appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, and Scott got to work doing what he does best: cleaning up.
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Post by notbadplayer on Jun 11, 2023 3:45:06 GMT
Greg briefly frowns as the corpse falls out of the refrigerator. "Aww... we were gonna hang out soon. She called it "CoUnSeLiNg", but I know she just wanted to play Boggle."
As Hephaestus readies her fist towards the display, he outstretches his hand towards it. "No, wait!" She goes through with punching it, of course. "Ah... I bet I could've reasoned with them..."
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Post by NIKI on Jun 11, 2023 3:59:23 GMT
Scott eyed the corpse, raising a brow at it. "Well. That's not good. Somebody did a no-no oopsie-day and killed Josephine." His voice was completely deadpan, and he sighed, lifting his glasses as he rubbed his eyes. "How did anyone even fit her into the fridge? That's not a sanitary place. Now all the food'll have to be thrown out too, and I'll have to deep clean the entire thing. Haah. Oh well. Guess I'll start work a little early. Oh, do feel free to discuss without me. I'll be listening in." Once again, the mop, bucket, and gloves appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, and Scott got to work doing what he does best: cleaning up. "Ugh, you're totally right... of all the ways to... uhp.." Tangie looks nauseated at the prospect of corpse contaminated food and steps in to help with the clean up.
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Post by Safy on Jun 11, 2023 4:03:00 GMT
Enid vomited at the sight and stress of two people she cared about suddenly passing. "Why is this happening......" She held a hand to her forehead and muttered in an uncharacteristically cold tone, "I can't stand this place......or these people….”
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