[Open] Dr. Medic's Sleepaway Funtimes Camp

[mementomoritz]

I. So girl keep telling me [network post]

[About three hours after the whole post-Esmeeting kerfuffle, every phone included in the Executor group chat suddenly blares loudly with an incoming post that appears to have every possible alert and priority notice the person writing it could find attached to it.]

ANYONE WHO ATE ANYTHING AT ESME'S HOUSE REPORT TO MEDIC IMMEDIATELY YOU ARE POISONED


[Well, you can't accuse her of burying the lede.]

i'm in my lab in invidia [The exact address and coordinates of the lab are attached along with the message, including a helpful photo of a scribbled map just in case anyone is really bad with directions.] if you ate ANY of the food esme served or if you're feeling sick, come here so i can treat you
if you find someone unconscious or unable to move on their own, BRING THEM HERE
if you don't have anyone around and think you need help getting here, reply to this message immediately

i threw up, so i tested some of the leftovers i took home
and that food is very, very poisoned
(also, if you brought leftovers home, don't eat them)


II. pick me up whenever i'm feeling down [in-person log]

[True to her word, Medic is ready and waiting in her lab the second anyone arrives.]

[The living room of the apartment she commandeered has been turned into a makeshift hospital. She's dragged cushions and mattresses in, laying them out on the floor and covering them with clean sheets and blankets to make sickbeds. Next to every bed is a glass of water and a bowl for, uh. Any stomach issues you might have to deal with.]

[Anyone healthy who walks in the door will be cheerfully pressganged into nursing duty.]

[The beds are set up facing the living room's lone TV, but well... this is Invidia. Guess who's probably on every channel.]

[You might have better luck with putting on a movie, but no one actually saw this coming, which means your available selection consists exclusively of stuff Medic brought with her from the Limbo library when she came down to Invidia. By which we mean exactly one film.]

[Whether having to see Esme's face is better or worse than watching Brutal Instinct again is a choice you're going to have to make amongst yourselves.]

Comments

[twibeast]

I think in this case, splitting up would be best. We can cover more ground quicker that way, and we have our phones to relay information.

[ And also all three of them are adults and not... feral teenagers collectively sharing one brain cell. ]

[schardynfreude]

Agreed. If it all comes to naught, then we can simply meet back at the apartment, but should someone gather pertinent information... [Phones! Technology is wonderful!]

Happy hunting.

[cancrymods]

Happy hunting indeed! Given that Alice is not an Executor, you can at least be certain that she is still in Invidia, if she is still, you know, alive and all. Other than that, her locations remains a mystery...

Hit me back with each of your investigation intentions and we'll get these individual threads rolling!

[discutio]

[well phoenix is shit out of luck on the visual front, but he can absolutely go about and see if anybody's talking, as people tend to do. perhaps pick up some of the local gossip and chatter about esme, because shiva knows that's all that's going on around here.]

[cancrymods]

There's some vague chatter here and there about Esme, but most of it just seems to be the "golly gee, isn't she great?" variety. Not much to really get your teeth into.

Eventually, though, he'll stumble across a pair of Specters having an interesting sounding conversation.

"I wonder when we'll get another contest show," one of them is saying. "Wouldn't it be exciting to get the chance to be on stage with Esme?"

"Like you could ever make it up there." the other replies. "But it'd be fun to try. I wonder why she hasn't done one before?"

[discutio]

[green sus]

[he's just gonna casually sidle on up all friendly-like]

Goodness, has she really not? That seems a terrible waste. [astrals' mercy, maybe he really had been in politics.]

Though I wonder--I thought I recalled her being in a contest of sorts some time ago?

[cancrymods]

There's a beat of silence, just the surprise of having a stranger cut into their conversation, but neither of them seem offended or averse, at least.

The first Specter speaks up again. "I don't think so? She doesn't really do that sort of reality TV. It's mostly vlogs, and music videos, and PVs, and fashion and–"

"No, wait, he's right." the second Specter cuts across. "I'd totally forgotten, but isn't that how she got her big break?"

[discutio]

Fortunately, Phoenix has a high CHA stat and also looks very polite.

“Hm...ah, now I think I might remember. There were two other girls she was in competition with, weren’t there?”

[cancrymods]

What a polite young lad.

"Yeah, you're right." It's the second Specter speaking now, and they sound thoughtful. "I don't actually remember what either of them were like, but there were definitely two of them. Wonder what happened."

[discutio]

“Let me think...there was that quieter girl, ‘Alice’, I think? Then I do believe I recall Esme ranking ahead of her, and that other girl Kotori out in front. Until that utterly terrible incident, of course.”

Awful. Scandalous. Absolutely bullshitted like he’s not completely sure he remembers the details. And this is Phoenix very convinced he was absolutely a politician on top of whatever required one to know combat acrobatics.

[cancrymods]

Another beat of confused silence.

"Incident?" says the first Specter.

"Utterly terrible?" says the second one.

They sound at once puzzled and curious. And it goes without saying... just a little envious. Give them the goss, polite young man!

[twibeast]

[ Beast sets out in a different direction, making a mental note to stay away from places that would distract him (so.... food). He keeps his ears open and eyes peeled primarily for red haired femme folk, even if there's a chance that she's changed her appearance... he's got an idea. ]

[cancrymods]

Beast can have little a snack when he's done searching, as a treat.

Weirdly enough, red hair doesn't seem particularly common in Invidia -- perhaps unsurprisingly, there's quite a lot of folks with the same dark brown as Esme and a similar amount rocking grassy green and minty green hair, presumably as a tip of the hat to her. But not a whole lot of red.

If he's persistent enough though, he'll eventually find a Specter in one of the music stores in the mall with long, cherry red hair. It's not quite as long as Alice's and the woman in question is obviously not Alice herself but the resemblance is a bit uncanny.

[twibeast]

[ Ah, there we go. That’s as good a place to start as any. He takes a moment to make sure he’s as charming as he can be before approaching. ]

Ah excuse me, my lady. May I bother you for just a moment?

[cancrymods]

She looks a bit surprised to be approached, but not necessarily displeased.

"I'm not doing anything right now, so it's fine..."

She sort of nervously smoothes some of her hair behind her ear, as she says that though.

[twibeast]

[ He smiles warmly. ]

I truly do apologize for approaching so abruptly but I really can’t pass beauty by without paying a compliment.

You look absolutely stunning, did you know that?

[cancrymods]

The Specter very visibly bluescreens for a moment with an expression that telegraphs "I don't usually receive compliments from attractive members of my preferred gender" like a neon sign and she has to take a second to recover before she can stutter out a reply.

"Oh wow! Wow, um-- thank you! Oh jeez, I don't usually hear stuff like that..."

Suffice to say she's charmed.

[twibeast]

Really? That’s such a shame... people must surely be too tongue-tied to tell you. Or simply blind.

[ No offence to the actual blind.

But okay now that the ice is broken..... ]

Your red hair is especially lovely. I almost mistook you for that other beautiful young lady that was on tv before... do you know the one I speak of?

[schardynfreude]

[And in yet another direction goes Chiron keeping eyes peeled and a jovial disposition who has no problems inserting himself into conversations about Esme and turning them in A Direction.]

[cancrymods]

As you would guess, most of the Specters around the city are talking about Esme, but finding a conversation to insert himself into is a bit more of a task. A lot of Specters will just flat-out ignore him if they're deep enough in conversation and one or two just have their attention sort of float away while he's midsentence.

Eventually, though, he'll catch a pair of Specters who are a little more open to conversation... or so it seems, given the discussion they're having.

"It's not that I don't love Esme..." one of them is saying. "It'd just be fun to see her have more people to bounce off of, you know?"

Gottem.

[schardynfreude]

[mmmMMM stop ignoring him!!!]

We have seen her with other people before, though, haven't we? [He adds a bit of that confusion to his voice, that kind of 'wait am I misremembering' tone.] A show, maybe? Or--oh, a contest! I suppose only one could come out on top, but...it would have been fun to see her with the other girls...

[cancrymods]

"Ohhhh!"

That's both of the Specters in unison as they exchange a look. Apparently, he's lit up the metaphorical lightbulb for both of them.

"Right, right. I remember now. There was the redhair girl and the short hair girl, right?"

The second Specter nods. "Kotori and... hmm. I dunno who the other girl was. She was pretty, though."

[schardynfreude]

Quite pretty, yes. Quiet, though, I think? Not as outgoing as Kotori was, certainly. Something with an A...Abby? No, that's not right. [Maybe if he gives them a little prompting, they'll remember clearer, but they do at least remember that much.]

Gosh, [hurts just typing him saying that] I do wonder whatever happened to them. They have to still be around the city somewhere, right?

[cancrymods]

"Abigail?" one of them suggests, but they don't sound all that sure about it.

"Allison?" the second says. It's not right on the money, but it's close enough. "I guess they must be. They haven't really done anything since the show, which is why I forgot all–"

"Alice!" the first Specter suddenly bursts out, cutting across their companion now. "I remember now! Her name was Alice! Wow, whatever happened to her?"

[schardynfreude]

But they were both so talented! That's how they were even up against Esme in the first place. Why just stop while at the peak of popularity even without winning?

[He rubs his chin, hemming and hawing a bit.] Well...Alice, anyway. I heard a rumor that Kotori suffered quite a terrible fate...but I've never heard the same for Alice. Like she simply vanished.