evermoredazzling | insert creative title for murderlog here

[ Riley moves quietly and quickly through the Opera House. The music draws her in like a beacon. She can barely hear what's going on, but that's strong emotions. It pulls her, down the west hall. One hand rests inside her windbreaker, and the closer she gets the more her mind settles in the haze. That's Claudine. A friend.

It doesn't matter. Chess and Farrah were her friends. Maybe not close ones, but they were friends. Riley's killed friends before. She can kill again, to fix it.

At the door to the dance studio, Riley waits, breathing softly. There's mirrors all around, but. Claudine's focused on her routine, isn't she? Her hand withdraws slowly from her jacket, and with it comes a knife, the knife that killed Jonny, that Riley's been keeping gaf taped to the inside of her wind breaker for weeks, in a stupid makeshift cloth-and-tape sheath.

She has only one memory to draw on. But Chess' murder was a quick and simple one. That's a good one. From context clues, she can tell Farrah's was a bit more...messy. Riley doesn't want messy right now.

What she's going to do is wait for Claudine to be turned so her reflection won't completely give her away. Then, she's going to strike. ]

[It’s more like reliving a memory than it is a strictly rehearsed routine. Claudine is both in the Opera House and in the underground theatre, alone on a stage meant for four. She leaps and twirls, imaginary steel meeting steel.

I know just how you will move and where you will land. You are the only one who can keep up with me.

Claudine remembers, but this time, the revue in her mind ends differently. She stops her routine in the exact center of the room, hitting a mark only she can see. Claudine plants her imaginary sword into that mark.]

Position Zero!

[She stands there, breathing hard from the exertion. Her eyes remain closed, with her focus still far away. Her things are in one corner - gym bag, water bottle, towel - but she makes no move to get them.]

Edited 2020-07-20 03:02 (UTC)

[ There it is. Just what she's looking for.

There's no fanfare. Nothing special. Not even a song. Just loud, horrible static running through her mind as she charges. The sound of her shoe squeaking on the studio floor is the only warning Claudine gets before a knife embeds itself in her lower back, right side.

You can't leave a knife in your victim if you want them to die, though. So, Riley rips it out with a slice, taking a few quick steps back. Will that kill her? It wasn't where she stabbed Chess. Maybe she should stab her in the stomach, too.

It's horribly clinical, the way Riley stares at Claudine, thinks of her, as she discretely steps back to avoid any blood spray. Later, she's going to think back on this and hate it. But right now, she just wants to finish her off. ]

[The sudden, sharp pain forces Claudine back into the present. She doesn’t scream, not exactly; it’s more of a choked-off shriek. Her eyes open, and she looks Riley’s reflection in the eyes.]

R-riley? What’s going on, what are you doing? Come on, snap out of it, you don’t have to do this! You’re -

[She reaches back, her right hand coming back covered in blood. She stops, then, looking at her hand and shaking like a leaf. It’s a mixture of pain, shock, and fear, one that shows on her face.]

[ Riley's reflection looks back. But, there's no sign of the cheery girl Claudine has gotten to know. Not even the frustrated one who commiserated with her. There's nothing. Just a girl holding a knife, wet with Claudine's own blood.

She's upset. But, it's okay. She won't be upset for long.

Riley takes a simple step forward as Claudine registers what's happening to her. It's to get a better vantage point, that's it. The knife darts forward again. Another quick but deep stab, right into her stomach. Another slash as she pulls it back. ]

[Claudine cries out again, another pained, choked-off shriek. Part of her wants to do more - to fight back, to ask why - but she’s fighting shock and blood loss. All she manages to say is a single word:]

Why?

[She stumbles forward a few feet before falling, trying to brace herself against the mirror directly in front of her. She can’t do more than leave a handprint on the glass before falling. She curls up into the fetal position, breathing shallow and ragged until it finally stops.

[Claudine Saijo is dead.]

[ Riley didn't stay and watch Chess die. She left her there, to bleed out, which presumably she certainly did.

The hand holding the knife shakes. It's been shaking, hasn't it? Riley wants to throw up. Instead, she reaches into her pocket and carefully wipes blood from the knife with a white opera glove. Maybe not thoroughly, but enough. Enough so she won't leave the blood drips that everyone else did.

She's not done. She has to fix it. She tosses the glove to the side, starting to breathe heavily. ]

That's Chess. That's for Chess. Now, one more. Just one more.

[ Her hand doesn't stop shaking. Not as she puts the knife back in its makeshift sheathe. She doesn't spare Claudine another look, but she knows she'll see her betrayed face staring at her, every time she closes her eyes.

Best keep them open, then. Riley starts to look for her second unlucky kill. ]

[Riley won't have to travel very far to find another unwitting pawn in her plan. Just outside, into the darkly-lit space they'd been allowed to venture into from the opera house. There, standing in the garden, gently tending to a patch of flowers nestle under the crying form of an angel... is a Gem.

A Gem who is singing to herself, just as gently.]

Sometimes, when I wanna run away and hide.
When there's no one on my side.
And the one there has disappeared...

I take it off my mind, and leave it all behind.
Nothing left to do but try to take the leap of faith and pull through.
And that's exactly what I'll do...

[Even in the dark, the pink shades of her skin are unmistakable.

It may be odd though... Spinel doesn't normally look this contemplative... or saddened.]

[Meanwhile, in the darkened library of the Opera House of Murder, Angus McFife XIII sits before his tomes, unable to keep him mind from swirling with opposing thoughts. His hands shook has he poured over the creased pamphlet, several faces now marred with the folding lines.

Four are dead. Thirteen remain. If he is to leave, then twelve must die, but just one tonight.

It will be easy. Think of your reward if you prepare for your great task.

He almost drops the paper when that crosses his mind. He wouldn't say that it's never been a consideration in the past month, but it hasn't been as loud as it is now...nor as appealing. What has changed?

Nothing. That's right. He feels much better nowadays. No longer does he ache with fear and misery. He had to learn to be strong. And being strong means killing when you must.

There are so many easy targets. Nana. Steven. Spinel, the child-like alien. Nervous Riley. Jeremy is weak in mind and body. With each name, he presses the tip of his pen through their heads. Wouldn't it be better to do with with a real weapon?

But it can be anyone. He lifts up the paper, marked by X's over the dead and imagined wounds over others. At the top, he sees his own profile one last time.

dislikes: Zargothrax, goblins, the undead.

...That doesn't entirely right anymore.

Angus takes his hammer and pushes away from the table, knocking the pamphlet to the floor. His arms tense with anticipation. Someone is bound to be out of their room at this time of night, but he can't catch them where he'll make a mess.

Outside. Away from the rooms. No one will hear their cries but you.

When he comes out of his stupor, he finds himself in the graveyard, overlooking the crypts. He spent a lot of time here, hasn't he? So have the others.

It's pathetic. Why should I care about the dead? For so long he stood before Sigyn's crypt as if it would change anything. It's ridiculous, having this monuments to the people that no longer exist. It makes his blood boil just thinking of how weak he had been in the past -

He brings his hammer down onto the stone with her name. It isn't completely destroyed, but the sound it makes? Seeing it defaced?

Doesn't that feel good?

[ It takes Riley awhile to find her second target. She’d floated through the second floor, in a singleminded haze, and that’s what she does on the first floor as well. Her knife tapped to the inside of her jacket feels...hot, almost like it’ll burn her. So, she has to get this over with soon. Before she loses her resolve.

(It’s enough time, wandering about, for Angus to slip out to the graveyard. Funny enough, they probably just miss each other. If they hadn’t, maybe at least Spinel could—)

She can’t find anyone else inside. Maybe that’s because it’s late, maybe everyone is in their rooms. That can’t do, though, because she needs two. She needs to go home, Chess and Farrah in tow, to present them to her team so everything can go back to normal. (What about Clark—? It’s fine, she didn’t— she doesn’t think she did, and anyway, he’s not on her team, so—) Riley takes to the outdoors. It’s open and that’s...maybe dangerous. But it’s her only shot. She doesn’t know when she pulled the knife from her jacket again, but it’s there, in her hand, as she stalks the night.

She doesn’t know how to move quietly through underbrush, so she stays to the path. That’s also dangerous. But surely, she finds someone. Bright pink someone.

It’s only at the trials that Riley’s seen Spinel look so...serious. It’s almost enough to stop her, get her to ask what’s wrong. But then the knife feels hot again. Her shoes clack on the stone walkway as she approaches, with only one goal. ]

[A shame that the garden and cemetery stand on opposite sides of the opera house. Perhaps their paths would have crossed, had they not, or Angus and Riley chose to step out just a bit earlier.

She didn't need to sleep, but sometimes she did. And she didn't usually dream, but sometimes she did. Finding herself back in the garden, standing there, waiting under a endless sky of stars. Would she ever get back home? Would Pink notice she had failed the game?

Would Pink even notice she was gone?

These thoughts and others plagued her tonight, for whatever reason. But Spinel was not easily weighed down. The clack of shoes against the cobblestones alert her to a presence that she turns her head towards.]

Hello?

[ Riley's standing there in the dark and ~~Chess~~ Spinel calls out hello. Riley waits for the dog to bark. That's what happened next. It surprised Chess, and she made her move. But...there are no dogs here. Shaky water-static in her head, she remembers that.

Riley doesn't answer.

Honestly, she would much prefer someone else. Because (--she doesn't want to be doing this--) she doesn't know much about Gem anatomy. But if she has to? She'll do it. She doesn't move. How well can Gems see in the dark? ]

...Hellooo?

[To her credit, Spinel is still 'new' to Humans. There's so many things about them that she just hasn't learned, or really cared to learn. So, naturally, Spinel doesn't notice that anything is wrong right off the bat.

She waves a hand in front of her, looking for a response.]

Riley? Hey, you wanted to look at the flowers too? [!!!] Oh. Are you here for a game?

[ Apparently the answer to that is well. Riley's hand tightens on the knife behind her back. Spinel is...fast. She will have to be careful if she wants to--

Riley very slowly blinks. ] A...game?

[ She. She talked to her about those. Games. For a second, Riley isn't here. She's on the sidelines of a football field. Her team's here. Maybe they aren't...perfect. But they're alive. But everything Riley fucked up doesn't matter anymore. She put it right. She fixed it. Didn't she?

She. Hates that the haze in her mind is fading. She's not there. She's here, with a knife in her trembling hand and an innocent in front of her. She'll be lucky if anything goes back to normal. If the rest of her friends are alright. What if she killed someone else? What if she hurt Cai--

Riley blinks again. A sick whispering voice tells her what she has to do, and it's the same voice that said it would be much better if Chess just went away, or that Farrah's caused so many problems, that as captain it's her job to take care of the team, and they aren't helping the team anymore.

It's the voice she tried to quell all summer leading up to the sleepover where she, apparently, killed them. ]

Y- yeah. A game.

[Spinel knows games. And she loves games. That seemed to snap Riley out of whatever she was doing, so... that must be helping. Right? She's helping! She wants to help around here.]

Oh, phew! That's good. [She wipes her brow. Gems don't. sweat?] I was spooked for a sec.

I just thought you looked a little strange is all. So if you're looking for a friend to play with, I'm your gal.

[It's so easy to slip into the same routine, just like she always had.]

Here in the garden, let's play a game...

Edited 2020-07-23 07:21 (UTC)

[ Spinel's so sweet. Spinel's so innocent. How can she do this?

Farrah was 15 and you fucking killed her, didn't you? Oh Riley wishes everything would stop. She wishes it would all shut up.

So. She lets the soft song take over her. ]

...I'll show you how it's done.

[ The hand behind her back starts to tremble again. ]

Here in the garden, just close your eyes,
And we'll have so much fun.

...How bout a smile? That's all I'm after.

[How Pink had smiled at her before she left, so light and cheerful. Before the game took over, and she never saw her again. She wanted others to smile like that. Better than that.]

Just a smile in your eyes, and the sound of your laughter...

[She shuts her eyes, and waits for the fun to start.]

Edited 2020-07-23 07:39 (UTC)

[ But she can't bring herself to smile as Spinel requests. ]

Happy to listen.

[ She brings the knife forward. ]

Happy to play.

[ And raises it, aiming for- for just above that Gem. Those are probably a vulnerable part, right? ]

Happily standing here, lead...astray...!

[ And Riley plunges the knife into Spinel's chest, halfway to the hilt. Unlike with Claudine, she can't bring herself to rip it out. Because... Because she just talked sweet Spinel into letting herself die. Didn't she? ]

Oh!

[It's a sound of surprise, less of pain. But that's what this is, isn't it? Pain. Sharp and stabbing right into her chest.

She wanted to follow the rules, keep playing. Because that's what spinels do.

Maybe just... a peek.]

...Wha?

[Thank goodness she hadn't aimed for her Gem, but now there was a blade lodged in her chest, and... it hurt. It baffled her, on top of that.]

...Riley?

[One hand finds Riley's arm, not pulling at it, but just holding on.]

[ This, this is far from anything Riley expected. Her face melts from distant, somber regret to horror, fear.

No. No, she doesn't want to be looking Spinel in the eyes. Riley lets out a shout of fright. It's a wonder she doesn't jerk away. But- no, she can't, especially now. ]

I'm sorry!

[ It's belated. It's what she wanted to say to Claudine oh god how could she just leave her there like that--

But it's also stupid and futile. Because as Riley screams that, she dives the knife in further, all the way to the hilt. ]

Guh!

[Looking into Riley's eyes is all she can do now. Spinel wanted to cheer her up, that's all, wipe away that look of fear and shock, the same that was painted across her own face.

Instead, she hangs on, even as Riley drives the knife in further.]

Riley... t-this game hurts-

[ POOF

And suddenly, Spinel isn't there anymore, right as the hilt of Riley's knife touches her chest. She's been replaced by a powerful rush of wind that fills the vacuum where the Gem once stood, and a cloud of dust.

At the base of Riley's feet, tumbling onto the earth, is a large, heart-shaped gemstone. Dormant, and quiet.]

[ Now Riley stumbles backwards. She lets out another shout, which she should really stop, because she's going to draw attention, but she's not. Thinking right now, really.

With her free hand, she reaches down but stops short of touching the lovely gemstone. What is this? She- all that's left is her Gem? Is that- did she- ]

I- I'm- I-i-i-is she- [ Stuttering to herself? Oh, this is a new low. Riley tries to wet her dry mouth, but she can't. She can see herself reflected in the gemstone, eyes wide and mouth open, a twisted, distorted version of herself.

Maybe that's more the real her. Maybe that little whispering voice, saying she did a good job, is actually Riley, the peppy go-getter and the scared little girl both facades.

She tries to calm her breathing. She takes a step back, and then another. And another. And another. This doesn't feel like the floaty, drifting haze she was in, when she killed Chess, killed Claudine.

Riley turns in a frenzied panic. She has to get out of here. She has to go, she- she has to-

In her terror, the only coherent thought that comes through is a strange one, but... Riley's thoughts haven't really been making sense, for awhile now, have they?

(In about thirty minutes, curled in her bed, in her room that she's completely trashed, it'll sink in just what she has to do next. She'll remember the next part of this process, and-- Well. It won't be very fun.)

All she can think is, she has to light some candles. She has to honor their memories. ]

[There’s something happening back there. Angus stands up from the crypt he was sitting one, and grabs the Hammer to-

It’s easier now, isn’t it?

That’s right, he can focus now. He feels better than he has all week. Trying not to rush and alert the other party of hi presence, he walks steadily towards the garden, head clear, hand ready.

He halts when he sees no one. The garden is not disturbed, but are they hiding? He makes a quick round of the place and quickly finds the massive heart-shaped gemstone just lying there.]

Is this Spinel’s? [Is she nearby, then?]

[Oh, she is nearby, but she's not all there.

The gemstone lying in the dirt was eerily reminiscent of the one normally protruding from Spinel's chest. A perfect likeness, even.

Whether it's at Angus's voice, or anything else, the stone seems to... shift? No, it's moving. Floating, actually. Floating off of the ground and into the air before Angus. Trails of light extend from it, warping and taking various shapes. Of arms and legs. A head with a familiar twintail style.]

[Angus has never seen this form of revival - no robot has grown their own body, no organic being matures this quickly. The idea of some sort of magic stone comes to mind, but The Phantom quickly dashed all hopes of allowing something so powerful in this building.

Then the shapes become familiar. A person. Spinel.

This is my opportunity.

The hammer is raised without his noticing. That soul, that person that will not matter, is prime for the taking.

He doesn’t have to focus on swinging it as hard as he can right in this center.

Feels good, doesn’t it?]

[Reforming is typically a special moment; it's a tiem for reflection, to change yourself to your liking, so you can come out the other side reborn, sporting a fresh new look if you so wished.

It's also when a Gem is at their most defenseless. Nothing is stopping that hammer from coming down on that gem. It may as well be passing through light.

The hammer slams down on the gem and the light vanishes in a instant.

The next instant, the gemstone hits the ground and shatters.

All in the span of a few seconds. The garden is suddenly empty again, save for Angus, and some colorful splinters in the grass.]

[For good measure, he strikes it again. It can’t have been that easy. But it is easy. The gem has shattered, and the light is gone. Spinel is dead.

Nothing is stopping me.

He reaches for a handful of colorful gems. He wants to keep them for himself, but he knows he cannot, not if he wishes to return to his realm. No, everyone must see that Spinel is gone, and after a period of grieving, everything will come to pass.

A horrible idea comes to mind. Why not have a bit of fun? This is your chance to embrace what you have done.

There are only five that he is able to take hold of, but that will suffice. Split up the gems, that can throw them off the trail. His first thought is of the many empty coffins, and if she will rest there eventually, why not get a head start?

Then the barn catches his eyes. The barn. The last place they could find her body. It’s a quick walk to peek in and toss in two shards into the hay. Let them find it with the horse. The next stop is the cemetery. It almost comes naturally, how he moves the cover to an empty crypt and tosses two in there. It’s like he has lost all inhibition.

That leaves one shard left. Now...where to put that? Indoors it is.

There’s not obvious room that would make this...interesting. No single location that feels meaningful. Walking through the first floor hallway one last time, he notices that the dance room has somethings spilled all over it. A quick peak and-

Oh.

Now this is an interesting turn of events.

Slowly approaching the figure, careful not to step on the blood, he takes hold of the last shard.

Claudine. She was rather pleasant, wasn’t she? It’s a shame she won’t be around to solve her own murder. Whatever. Now it’s his problem, thanks a lot. For making his escape more difficult, he decides to give her killer one last gift.

Her hands are stiffening, but he manages to get them open enough to stuff one shard in her non-bloody hand and close her fingers over it.

It’s funny, isn’t it. I should be enjoying this.

The start of a laugh bubbles inside him, but halts. It’s not ready yet. He can’t be happy about this. Yet.

Before that train of thought reaches anywhere, Angus turns around and marches straight to his room. If he is to make it through the day, he needs his sleep.

Whatever happens in the morning will happen.]

insert creative title for murderlog here

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cw: emetophobia mentions

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1/2

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