What do you take me for? I can work with others. [ Lillium never needed to like people to work with them (and he does generally like the two here). ] You're supposed to be at home.
[ He does not know that the Snickers is spicy because he believes if they're packaged they must be safe from bad taste. It will go into his pocket as he fusses over this water bottle who has climbed the corporate ladder without his knowing?
For some reason, he can't find this too weird, so he does allocate some of his attention back to their case since that is their responsibility. Grimacing, he at least thinks this case is strange. ]
Christ alive. [ Lillium will try to zoom into some blindspot-ish areas on the video to see if there's anything to glean, like odd shadows etc if it's clean enough, but... ] Starting with the studio is a good idea—if we could get any leads to where his other half is, it'd be great to get it before the killer thinks to do wild things with it, too.
[ IS THE QR CODE HQ ENOUGH TO ACCESS IT? While also taking security precautions... please don't get infected ]
I'm afraid not.
It's the first of its kind that Tokyo has seen.
It's also why it's imperative you solve this quickly, before the media gets a hold of everything and throws the public into a frenzy.
[ F.F. crawls into Jolyne's eye like the little alien creature that she is. Someone missed the 'act like a person' memo, but who cares since nobody outside of ABIS is supposed to know about her anyway. It's not uncomfortable at all, and Jolyne will see her eyesight kick in. Perfect vision! Even better than perfect vision.
Luffy
Hey! That's my snack!
Get your own!
Luffy does, in fact, try to fix his hat (yes his uniform is also consisting of open shirt and also a straw hat because rules are for losers) and try to go after Ace but he's held back by Hung who just gives him another one.
Hung
Don't worry, I have plenty for everyone.
Good luck Jolyne. I know you've got what it takes.
I've also got some cereal bars if you want a quick snack to take with you.
β β β
Iris
Okay, you worrier. I'm not a baby you know.
We're not going to be working because something about HR saying we need to use up our vacation days?
Boss can't keep us on the grind anymore if she wants to stay out of trouble.
I'm being good! I have an art project I want to get back to. You should come see it when you're done.
While you can't seem to find anything obscure visually on the security footage playback, it appears you can indeed, scan the QR code. Nico can do that for him and inform him that it appears to lead to some kind of shortified URL. He's scanned it for viruses really quickly and got pinged for none, so that's good at least?
[ jolyne is fine with this actually. she will gladly take a cereal bar to munch on with a cheery: ]
Thanks. I'll make sure we look good.
[ she'll go ahead and join ace in having a snack before going out in the field because that's important. ]
Heading back to the location the body was is probably our best bet, yeah. Maybe there's more that we can glean with you guys, yeah? It'll be a long day, I think, F.F.
[ sure is roomy in here. must be how small your brain is. ]
That's right. Do it in style.
How about an office potluck as your celebration reward for solving it?
[ He's cheering you on! Have your cereal bar, and have some extras too. Make sure you share with your friends, etc, etc.
β β β
Boss
Nope.
Sources say it exploded within minutes before any deep investigation could be done.
Fortunately since we had an AI-Ball present at the scene, you could probably recreate it and figure it out once you get there.
β β β
Iris gives Lillium a bit of a huffy look and sticks his tongue out as soon as the latter returns to business mode. Yes, this boy somehow is your superior.
Also yeah Nico's kind of halfway between a skeleton and whatever Cocoa Puff is. He'll show up in his all-goth AI glory once he's in your head.
β β β
Loading the QR code gets you... a weird map. It's got multiple X's marked on it, totaling 5 places. It also comes with a strange and encrypted text file simply reading --
γFind the balloons!γ
Hmm. Anyway, the locations will be analysed for you by your AI buddies and returned as the following: Yoyagi Park, Ikume Shrine, Misetan Department Store, Tokyo National Stadium, and Aioen Orphanage. ]
[ stuffs her pockets full of cereal bars and possibly a water bottle too. man, she got lucky, her sup is so fuckin' good.
hydration!
but once the messing around is done, jolyne will have a look at what information lillium and nico have uncovers (why are 3/4 of the phoenix squad here help i love it). she hums. ]
Balloons...? [ literal balloons? ] Mmm... Should we split up to cover more ground, maybe? Since there are five locations.
[ NICO IS HERE... MAY ACE END UP OKAY. Lillium isn't going to order Nico into his eye socket, unfortunately. Little guy will need to roll into it or wait until they head out, then Lillium will do that. ]
I'm not keen on following the suggestion of a QR code that was attached to half of a corpse. A corpse that exploded.
[ Okay! So you guys are heading off to Studio Dvaita then as a group. I do recommend splitting up after this one for time reasons but also winkywonk.
Anyway, you arrive to Dvaita which appears to be a pretty standard studio for television recording and the like. You head straight towards the quiz studio, which is lined with police tape, clearly indicating something happened here. Maybe a murder. Idk. There are some detectives and security guards standing around but they won't get in your way.
It's dark, but it's as easy of a process as simply turning on the light switches.
There is a bit of a scorch mark in the middle of the studio where there was presumably, the corpse, but there really is no sign of anything else -- no body bits, and perhaps more strangely, no blood.
well here they are at the studio. jolyne just looks around for a long moment before folding her arms a bit, her eyes kind of trained on scorch mark dead center. ]
Hey, F.F., is there any way to sort of... recreate what the scene looked like prior to the explosion at all? You know.
[ can f.f. work some of that ai ball magic? maybe superimpose the photos over what she can se ein reality right now? ]
[ it's a joke. anyway who hired ace to be a detective. this is a mistake and this shows with the fact that while jolyne is just looking at the scorch mark, ace goes over directly to squat over it, squinting a little at the lack of blood ]
I guess they moved the sign that did the cut already? Hey, Sabo, is there anything hidden in the scorch mark we can't see?
[ he knows fire so well you guys. you use fire... to hide other things... surely this is the same "the body exploded" SURELY this is the same ]
[ Despite being an AI, F.F. projects herself into Jolyne's vision and starts fuckin' knocking back a 32 oz bottle of water she pulled out of nowhere. Hyyydration!
F.F.
Yep. It's a thingy called Virtual Reality Simulation.
Wanna try it? You gotta close your eyes.
Your fellow investigators will also be able to participate in the VR if you hold hands. No I'm kidding you don't have to hold hands, but you do all have to close your eyes for the full immersion; otherwise, they can only project a semi-translucent version of things into the left half of your vision. This will allow for surface observation, but nothing detailed. ]
Sabo
Looks like it was a high-heat, high-impact, powerful explosion directly against the floor.
There isn't anything hidden in the flooring itself. Not even a dent.
[ she's so moisturized. jolyne just stares for a minute before she starts laughing because... yeah. yeah, that's her f.f. alright. she just turns towards the spot and tilts her head. ]
Yeah - let's try it! [ she's ready and is already squeezing her eyes shut, which she will probably stop squeezing eventually, but she's excited. ]
Maybe there's some kinda...? Uh... [ she snaps her fingers. ] Oh, an accelerant? Something to cause sudden ignition.
[ Welcome to the VR-world ooooOOOoOoOOoo. Despite her eyes being (squeezed) tightly shut, vision will spread in front of her like she never closed her eyes at all. She's still in the studio albeit everything with a somewhat bluish hue, and she'll find the half-corpse of the Mayor in front of her. Sign-stabbed and all, like he's a plot of land being sold by real estate. Rest in peace, sweet prince.
Attempting to touch the body or sign will result in her hand going through it though, because it's not really there.
F.F. is there in her own VR projection, being a restless little goblin, sometimes resting on Jolyne's shoulder in phytoplankton mode, and other times just kind of dancing around. Sitting behind one of the virtual quiz stands and slapping the button. Trying her hand at being a show host at the podium. Kicking over a camera. Anyway. What does Jolyne want to look at?
β β β
Ace also joins the projection and he sees the same things that Jolyne does. Yes, including F.F. being a goblin. Sabo is being good meanwhile, by squatting by the corpse and looking at it. ]
[ foof is allowed to do whatever her little goblin heart desires actually. jolyne is just happy to hear her moving around. she just gives ace a salute with her eyes closed and eventually, once she chills out from the initial /sparkle eyes of entering the virtual world, she will move towards the body and also crouch.
hmmm is there anything in vr mode that she can see at all? any information that she can pull up from the database thanks to f.f.? can she find out what the time of death was... and the time thereafter of the BURNATION of the mayor's corpse? does it say? like she kinda wants to know how fast this man a'sploded. ]
[ It should be weirder for Ace to see Sabo crouched next to a corpse, but it actually feels about right. Ten years old and they kept doing whatever the hell they wanted in worse places. (Where? What?)
Anyway. Dead mayor, F.F. being a goblin-- sight modes. he is paying attention. ]
Like... Thermal vision? Or x-ray? [ terms that he knows but that sound off coming out of his mouth like he has never once in his life used them. he'll try thermal first, though!!
also this is important he waves back at jolyne. hi. ]
Lillium will take a look around the studio stage, checking to see if there are any other clues around... Also??? Look up above where the mayor dropped down?? It may not be captured in simulation because the fall itself was during the blackout, but!
[ Jolyne can observe the body closer this way. She can see that the vertical slice really is a perfect line directly down the middle.
She also finds that her vision glitches and for a second, this tiny body looks significantly furrier, dark and striped, like a little raccoon -- but it's only for an instant, and it's gone. She's still looking at the Mayor's corpse.
The time of death was (ehh wobbles hands) the previous night, at least 24 hours before the body was discovered in the studio.
The man exploded abruptly and suddenly, instantly turning into crisps of such a high degree that nothing remained.
β β β
Sabo probably gives Ace a look like doy, but I never read One Piece so I'm not qualified. Ace can turn on thermal mode though, where he will see that the corpse is cold, and the floor is also cold. Checks out with the 'been more than 24 hours since death' report, and the lack of no heat signature on the floor seems to indicate no minimal traces of blood.
He is waving at the orange figure of Jolyne, who is alive and warm.
Sabo
Wait, look at that, Ace.
There is the faintest glimmer of something in the air above the corpse. ENHANCE?
β β β
Lillium can look up at the ceiling, our mg habits. And actually, he sees nothing there right now, but. ]
[ she is alive and warm and waving back at him, wiggling her fingers. hi hi, ace, giving him a little wink. telepathically, because we can when we're in the same location: ] Talk about a weird day, yeah?
[ she will go back to pondering just what the hell happened, slapping her hand over her closed eye for a moment like bwah? hello? shivering a little, she looks at this perfect bisection of the mayor. ]
This is so intense, how do you get such a perfectly straight line? And where did his other half go? Did anyone ever find it...?
[ he winks back. lillium is stuck with TWO idiots. Sabo gives Ace a look like he is deranged, but Ace is already looking at whatever is glimmering above the corpse. ]
Sabo, can we get a closer look?
[ COMPUTER ENHANCE
also going hehe at nico saying open ur fuckin eyes at lillium, because the tone is funny ]
Bluh, bluh, bluh...
Oh, nope. Only his right half right here was found so far.
Nobody has found his left half yet.
β β β
[ ENHANCED. To which, Ace can see a very tiny, suuuper thin, almost hair-like strand of something in the air.
Sabo
It's a strand of carbon nanotube.
It's impossible to see with the naked eye, but I'm enhancing it for you so you can get an idea.
Looks like it's attached to the body and goes up to the ceiling.
β β β
Nico
No, I meant...
I just noticed there's an anomaly while doing a scan of the area to do the VR.
There's something up there. Outside of the sim.
What he MEANT was leave the simulation. Accidentally becomes rude instead. ]
Bluh is right, wonder where it could even be... if it isn't here. Messy.
[ she tilts her head to look at maybe a little f.f. on her shoulder before finally standing up and opening her eyes, giving a little shake of her head as she looks at lilium and ace. hmmm.
can she explore the perimeter of the room in real life, scoping out any like weird signs of tampering in the area? this is such a weird set up, so someone must have had full mastery of the location to manage something insane like this. she furrows her brow, brushing a hand against the wall slowly around the stage area. ]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
[ He does not know that the Snickers is spicy because he believes if they're packaged they must be safe from bad taste. It will go into his pocket as he fusses over this water bottle who has climbed the corporate ladder without his knowing?
For some reason, he can't find this too weird, so he does allocate some of his attention back to their case since that is their responsibility. Grimacing, he at least thinks this case is strange. ]
Christ alive. [ Lillium will try to zoom into some blindspot-ish areas on the video to see if there's anything to glean, like odd shadows etc if it's clean enough, but... ] Starting with the studio is a good idea—if we could get any leads to where his other half is, it'd be great to get it before the killer thinks to do wild things with it, too.
[ IS THE QR CODE HQ ENOUGH TO ACCESS IT? While also taking security precautions... please don't get infected ]
no subject
It's the first of its kind that Tokyo has seen.
It's also why it's imperative you solve this quickly, before the media gets a hold of everything and throws the public into a frenzy.
[ F.F. crawls into Jolyne's eye like the little alien creature that she is. Someone missed the 'act like a person' memo, but who cares since nobody outside of ABIS is supposed to know about her anyway. It's not uncomfortable at all, and Jolyne will see her eyesight kick in. Perfect vision! Even better than perfect vision.
Get your own!
Luffy does, in fact, try to fix his hat (yes his uniform is also consisting of open shirt and also a straw hat because rules are for losers) and try to go after Ace but he's held back by Hung who just gives him another one.
Good luck Jolyne. I know you've got what it takes.
I've also got some cereal bars if you want a quick snack to take with you.
β β β
We're not going to be working because something about HR saying we need to use up our vacation days?
Boss can't keep us on the grind anymore if she wants to stay out of trouble.
I'm being good! I have an art project I want to get back to. You should come see it when you're done.
While you can't seem to find anything obscure visually on the security footage playback, it appears you can indeed, scan the QR code. Nico can do that for him and inform him that it appears to lead to some kind of shortified URL. He's scanned it for viruses really quickly and got pinged for none, so that's good at least?
Do you open it? ]
no subject
Thanks. I'll make sure we look good.
[ she'll go ahead and join ace in having a snack before going out in the field because that's important. ]
Heading back to the location the body was is probably our best bet, yeah. Maybe there's more that we can glean with you guys, yeah? It'll be a long day, I think, F.F.
[ sure is roomy in here. must be how small your brain is. ]
... I can't believe this.
no subject
Should we look at it too? ]
Look at what?
[ ...Hey, pay more attention. Well, whatever. A lot of this is going to go over your head, huh?
ace squints angrily at nothing. rude ass ai. ]
Did we find out what made the body explode anyway, or are we looking for that too?
no subject
Open it.
[ Nico can stay outside and continue to be... is he a cat... that's funny. Open the QR code. ]
no subject
How about an office potluck as your celebration reward for solving it?
[ He's cheering you on! Have your cereal bar, and have some extras too. Make sure you share with your friends, etc, etc.
β β β
Sources say it exploded within minutes before any deep investigation could be done.
Fortunately since we had an AI-Ball present at the scene, you could probably recreate it and figure it out once you get there.
β β β
Iris gives Lillium a bit of a huffy look and sticks his tongue out as soon as the latter returns to business mode. Yes, this boy somehow is your superior.
Also yeah Nico's kind of halfway between a skeleton and whatever Cocoa Puff is. He'll show up in his all-goth AI glory once he's in your head.
β β β
Loading the QR code gets you... a weird map. It's got multiple X's marked on it, totaling 5 places. It also comes with a strange and encrypted text file simply reading --
γFind the balloons!γ
Hmm. Anyway, the locations will be analysed for you by your AI buddies and returned as the following: Yoyagi Park, Ikume Shrine, Misetan Department Store, Tokyo National Stadium, and Aioen Orphanage. ]
no subject
[ stuffs her pockets full of cereal bars and possibly a water bottle too. man, she got lucky, her sup is so fuckin' good.
hydration!
but once the messing around is done, jolyne will have a look at what information lillium and nico have uncovers (why are 3/4 of the phoenix squad here help i love it). she hums. ]
Balloons...? [ literal balloons? ] Mmm... Should we split up to cover more ground, maybe? Since there are five locations.
no subject
but yes he also looks at the info now that he has finished the snickers bar ]
Six, if we count the studio. You guys want to get two each, or should we start off with the studio and see how to split up from there?
[ Already going off on your own, that's a new record! Maybe you should get the studio information before you rush off to play with balloons. ]
Just because you're right doesn't mean you have to be annoying about it.
no subject
I'm not keen on following the suggestion of a QR code that was attached to half of a corpse. A corpse that exploded.
[ A sigh. ]
Studio first. We'll see from there.
STUDIO DVAITA
Anyway, you arrive to Dvaita which appears to be a pretty standard studio for television recording and the like. You head straight towards the quiz studio, which is lined with police tape, clearly indicating something happened here. Maybe a murder. Idk. There are some detectives and security guards standing around but they won't get in your way.
It's dark, but it's as easy of a process as simply turning on the light switches.
There is a bit of a scorch mark in the middle of the studio where there was presumably, the corpse, but there really is no sign of anything else -- no body bits, and perhaps more strangely, no blood.
What do you want to look at? ]
no subject
well here they are at the studio. jolyne just looks around for a long moment before folding her arms a bit, her eyes kind of trained on scorch mark dead center. ]
Hey, F.F., is there any way to sort of... recreate what the scene looked like prior to the explosion at all? You know.
[ can f.f. work some of that ai ball magic? maybe superimpose the photos over what she can se ein reality right now? ]
no subject
[ it's a joke. anyway who hired ace to be a detective. this is a mistake and this shows with the fact that while jolyne is just looking at the scorch mark, ace goes over directly to squat over it, squinting a little at the lack of blood ]
I guess they moved the sign that did the cut already? Hey, Sabo, is there anything hidden in the scorch mark we can't see?
[ he knows fire so well you guys. you use fire... to hide other things... surely this is the same "the body exploded" SURELY this is the same ]
no subject
Wanna try it? You gotta close your eyes.
Your fellow investigators will also be able to participate in the VR if you hold hands. No I'm kidding you don't have to hold hands, but you do all have to close your eyes for the full immersion; otherwise, they can only project a semi-translucent version of things into the left half of your vision. This will allow for surface observation, but nothing detailed. ]
There isn't anything hidden in the flooring itself. Not even a dent.
no subject
Yeah - let's try it! [ she's ready and is already squeezing her eyes shut, which she will probably stop squeezing eventually, but she's excited. ]
Maybe there's some kinda...? Uh... [ she snaps her fingers. ] Oh, an accelerant? Something to cause sudden ignition.
no subject
I'm more curious that there's no blood. The body was already cut in half when it exploded, shouldn't it have bled a little...?
[ well the recreation might help see if like. maybe the fucking body was dry or something. maybe the sign was like a lightsaber. who knows. ]
no subject
Attempting to touch the body or sign will result in her hand going through it though, because it's not really there.
F.F. is there in her own VR projection, being a restless little goblin, sometimes resting on Jolyne's shoulder in phytoplankton mode, and other times just kind of dancing around. Sitting behind one of the virtual quiz stands and slapping the button. Trying her hand at being a show host at the podium. Kicking over a camera. Anyway. What does Jolyne want to look at?
β β β
Ace also joins the projection and he sees the same things that Jolyne does. Yes, including F.F. being a goblin. Sabo is being good meanwhile, by squatting by the corpse and looking at it. ]
no subject
hmmm is there anything in vr mode that she can see at all? any information that she can pull up from the database thanks to f.f.? can she find out what the time of death was... and the time thereafter of the BURNATION of the mayor's corpse? does it say? like she kinda wants to know how fast this man a'sploded. ]
no subject
Anyway. Dead mayor, F.F. being a goblin-- sight modes. he is paying attention. ]
Like... Thermal vision? Or x-ray? [ terms that he knows but that sound off coming out of his mouth like he has never once in his life used them. he'll try thermal first, though!!
also this is important he waves back at jolyne. hi. ]
no subject
[ "We sure are."
Lillium will take a look around the studio stage, checking to see if there are any other clues around... Also??? Look up above where the mayor dropped down?? It may not be captured in simulation because the fall itself was during the blackout, but!
Might as well. ]
no subject
She also finds that her vision glitches and for a second, this tiny body looks significantly furrier, dark and striped, like a little raccoon -- but it's only for an instant, and it's gone. She's still looking at the Mayor's corpse.
The time of death was (ehh wobbles hands) the previous night, at least 24 hours before the body was discovered in the studio.
The man exploded abruptly and suddenly, instantly turning into crisps of such a high degree that nothing remained.
β β β
Sabo probably gives Ace a look like doy, but I never read One Piece so I'm not qualified. Ace can turn on thermal mode though, where he will see that the corpse is cold, and the floor is also cold. Checks out with the 'been more than 24 hours since death' report, and the lack of no heat signature on the floor seems to indicate no minimal traces of blood.
He is waving at the orange figure of Jolyne, who is alive and warm.
There is the faintest glimmer of something in the air above the corpse. ENHANCE?
β β β
Lillium can look up at the ceiling, our mg habits. And actually, he sees nothing there right now, but. ]
no subject
[ she will go back to pondering just what the hell happened, slapping her hand over her closed eye for a moment like bwah? hello? shivering a little, she looks at this perfect bisection of the mayor. ]
This is so intense, how do you get such a perfectly straight line? And where did his other half go? Did anyone ever find it...?
no subject
[ he winks back. lillium is stuck with TWO idiots. Sabo gives Ace a look like he is deranged, but Ace is already looking at whatever is glimmering above the corpse. ]
Sabo, can we get a closer look?
[ COMPUTER ENHANCE
also going hehe at nico saying open ur fuckin eyes at lillium, because the tone is funny ]
no subject
[ HELP
he can't glare at ace right now because he has to focus on OPENING HIS EYES, but there is a feeling he would be doing it if he could. ]
Can you play the simulation in slow motion for the other two?
no subject
Oh, nope. Only his right half right here was found so far.
Nobody has found his left half yet.
β β β
[ ENHANCED. To which, Ace can see a very tiny, suuuper thin, almost hair-like strand of something in the air.
It's impossible to see with the naked eye, but I'm enhancing it for you so you can get an idea.
Looks like it's attached to the body and goes up to the ceiling.
β β β
I just noticed there's an anomaly while doing a scan of the area to do the VR.
There's something up there. Outside of the sim.
What he MEANT was leave the simulation. Accidentally becomes rude instead. ]
no subject
[ she tilts her head to look at maybe a little f.f. on her shoulder before finally standing up and opening her eyes, giving a little shake of her head as she looks at lilium and ace. hmmm.
can she explore the perimeter of the room in real life, scoping out any like weird signs of tampering in the area? this is such a weird set up, so someone must have had full mastery of the location to manage something insane like this. she furrows her brow, brushing a hand against the wall slowly around the stage area. ]
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