Fourth investigation

[letsplayamod]

[You get the feeling that something is immediately wrong as soon as you awaken. Your room, like each room, is quiet in the morning light. Even before you've pulled yourself from your sheets, there's a sense that dread is waiting for you.

It's a new day. You'll have to step out your door to face it eventually.

Who goes first?]

Comments

[brokenhabit]

[ RUDE.

Gonna guess it's from that stab wound Astarion found. How is her body positioned by the way? ]

[letsplayamod]

[Aglea isn't covered with something like the other two bodies. She's on her back, limbs splayed at inelegant angles. Based on the sheer amount of blood, it stands to reason she lays where she dropped.

Since Leb is looking so unflinchingly at her body, though, she's more likely to notice the defensive wounds on her hands and arms.]

[brokenhabit]

[ Oh...?

She's going to reach out and take one of her arms to get a closer look at these wounds. Are they are just bruises or actual cuts or...? ]

[letsplayamod]

[A mix of both: bruises and small cuts that run up her arms and even some on her legs.]

[brokenhabit]

[ Legs as well huh...

Did that kind of damage extend to her clothes too? Just to be thorough. ]

[letsplayamod]

[The small cuts on her clothes match up with the small cuts showing through. The only major injury looks to be the one in her chest.

While we're here though...Aglaea's beautiful golden sword lays on the opposite side of her body from Leb.]

[brokenhabit]

[ Ah...

Lebkuchen moves to get a better look at it. Is there any blood on it? Did mom get a hit on whoever was attacking her? ]

[letsplayamod]

[It's the oddest thing. The room is wrecked, mom clearly fought with all of her might...but the sword is remarkably clean. The only blood on it looks like it's the result of laying next to a pool of it.]

[brokenhabit]

[ Damnit.

Okay, anything else to find here about the body or around it? ]

[letsplayamod]

[Good (?) News: the blade is scuffed up so it seems it was used very recently!

The other thing is...there is no other blood here. All the splatter is gold, not a speck of red anywhere.]

[brokenhabit]

[ Damn wound check can't save them now.

At the risk of asking another vague question, is there anything else to notice here before I move on to stabbing Owl's heart some more? Specifically anything she might notice while moving Aglaea's body because that's what she's about to do next. ]

[letsplayamod]

[The most noticible thing now, at least on Leb's end, is what's lacking.

The sword in particular is clean but there's no sign of anything that could have been used to clean it, no tossed aside rags or lingering smells of something like cleaning vinegar.]

[brokenhabit]

[ Good to know!!

Now that the evidence is all clear, Lebkuchen starts moving the body. Gently straightening out each limb, then folding the arms so Aglaea’s hands rest neatly on top of one another on her chest. She cares not for the blood, does not flinch from it as she carefully works. If Aglaea’s eyes are still open then they’re just as carefully closed.

She sits back on her heels for a moment, searching her mind for what to do. She’s helped with funerals and last rites before, but what good would any of that do? Setting aside Aglaea’s different world and her own divine status, what would that even do for herself? It wouldn’t bring her any comfort, and it would ring hollow coming from someone like her. She’s already abandoned her faith and was abandoned in kind.

No, it needs to be something else. She has thought for a while now that it needs to be something else for their dead. Something the Goddess of Lilies can do.

She outstretches her hands and wills them forward. She doesn’t pull with the powers at her finger tips, merely beckons like someone inviting in a friend to sit and chat, and from the blood they rise. A bed of pure white lilies, occasionally joined here and there by the flowers Aglaea decorated her clothing and accessories with. They surround Aglaea, blanketing all sides of her, and are soon joined by thin tendrils of vines that grow over her body, clinging as if trying to protect her from any more harm. Over the hole in her chest they gather and start blooming their own little gold flowers, as if trying to blend in with the blood and hide the wound from sight.

Once they’re done Lebkuchen’s hand moves to lightly brush through Aglaea’s bangs, make sure one more time that everything looks in place… before leaning over and pressing a kiss to her forehead. When she speaks her voice is quiet, but heavy with tears that aren’t yet ready to come. ]

Thank you… For everything.

[ And yet it doesn’t feel like enough. The words, this little display… it’s not enough.

It’ll never feel like enough.

She finally stands then, her skirt once again stained with the blood of their dead, and stays there for a while.

Around her feet a different flower starts blooming. ]