Having fun isn't hard, when you've got a library card!

[loveandwillpower]

So look, going up is where you find the good stuff, so when Minako sees a hint of something different on the staircase, some pale flutter in the darkness, it's time to reach for the stars! Having an alibi doesn't seem to matter that much, anyway, and all the people she wants to protect are - okay either fine or she can't find them.

She can worry later, finding things is important, if she runs into anyone along the way-

Then she literally does just that. In her defense Ulaz is quiet. Not in her defense is that he's probably wearing a sweater with tinsel on it, but look it's dark and she's fast.

"Oof!"

Comments

[loveandwillpower]

[ All this disrespect for cute red bows. ]

Well, that's not super creepy or anything, I don't want to see what they've put in there.

...It's probably another dumb joke.

[ She's trying to convince herself that going into a dark pit with a knife-wielding tuxedo ninja alien with a good reason to want her dead is a good plan. She's succeeding.

Time for the fuckos to go to the morgue. ]

[pandatreasure]

[Maybe the bow is a clue??? You fool. You absolute imbecile.

Anyway the rope ladder is still not long enough to get to the bottom because SOMEBODY cut it down so now the fuckos have to figure out how to get down there.]

[insurgeont]

[ IF IT'S A CLUE THEY CAN COME BACK FOR IT, NOT LIKE THEY'RE NOT ALREADY RUNNING ALL OVER THE PLACE

Anyway Ulaz cut a bunch of ropes down from the playground here to make a long rope down during the day, that should still be around. Not as good as a proper rope ladder, but he's pretty good at climbing, so he's fine with it. ]

[loveandwillpower]

[ This group's good at climbing, and this one's got knots in it instead of going straight up, so. No complaints at all. Arguably one of them should be complaining but Minako's firmly in the egging on camp of bad ideas. ]

...So, do you know any ghost stories?

[pandatreasure]

[So. There's a lot going on here.

First, one of the corpse drawers is opened up and a slab is pulled out of it. Fortunately, there's no corpse on it. Instead, there are eight items laid out on it: an egg, a tomato, a dumbbell, an oven mitt, an alien man action figure, a hand crank generator, a baseball, and a serving platter.

Second are the five altars set up in the middle of the morgue. There are five stands bringing their contents approximately up to a reasonable human chest-level. Sitting on each stand is a small bowl with a fire in it (similar to the setup in the shrine), two small plaques underneath each bowl, and...a framed portrait of Tycoon behind the bowl and fire.

Why.]

[insurgeont]

That is not what we are here for.

[ ...what... are we here for? That sure is an odd collection of items and okay, what do these plaques say? ]

[loveandwillpower]

Are we supposed to sacrifice this stuff? There's only five bowls, so...

[pandatreasure]

[The first altar has a photo of Tycoon, who has been badly photoshopped into a tuxedo. The first plaque says In Loving Memory: Tycoon, who overdosed on shaving cream. The second plaque says blab sale.

The second altar has a photo of Tycoon, who has been badly photoshopped to wear a pair of glasses. The first plaque says In Loving Memory: Tycoon, who drank too much Pepto Bismol. The second plaque says:
There once was a raccoon from Spain
Who complained of some strange stomach pain
But it wasn't from poison
'Twas from holding the boys in
And his son had a birth none too plain!

The third altar has a photo of Tycoon, who has been badly photoshopped to appear as though standing in front of the Eiffel Tower. The first plaque says In Loving Memory: Tycoon, who choked to death on his pet shaming sign. The second says win, rearrange, angered, stolen.

The fourth altar has a photo of Tycoon, who has been badly photoshopped into a Batman costume. The first plaque says In Loving Memory: Tycoon, who put a fork in a socket while also trying to go swimming. The second says TOOOOOOOOM.

The fifth altar has a photo of Tycoon, whose had had been badly photoshopped onto a bodybuilder. The first plaque says In Loving Memory: Tycoon, who ran with scissors. The second says:
ALTAR
SERVO
CARAT
EXTRA
NEVER
DOUSE
IODIN
NERVE
GOING

So hey! Fun times.]

[insurgeont]

[ hey

what the fuck ]

[loveandwillpower]

[ what if they just leave and pretend they didn't see it ]

[insurgeont]

[ Knowledge or death, Minako. Knowledge or death. ]

...these must be riddles that relate to these items somehow.

[ some...how.... ]

[loveandwillpower]

It's this Captain Hook bull all over again.

[insurgeont]

Tapioca honk. An anagram. ...Of these, "blab sale" is a similarly short, nonsense phrase. It may be another anagram.

[ Though he's not sure which of the items it'd fit. None of the possibilities going through his head are anything here. Lab bales? Sable lab? ]

[loveandwillpower]

Well, it's not the tomato, there's no T.

[ Do you expect her to do this in her head, Ulaz. Because she's not. ]

[insurgeont]

...which one is the tomato?

[ YOU CAN'T EXPECT HIM TO RECOGNIZE EARTH VEGETABLES, OKAY, HE'S DOING HIS BEST ]

[loveandwillpower]

The one you can eat raw.

[ Can doesn't mean should, but, ]

[insurgeont]

...

[ Points at the egg...? ]

[loveandwillpower]

[ THUMBS DOWN ]

[insurgeont]

[ Points at the tomato...? ]

[loveandwillpower]

[ Slowly raises hand in OK sign ]

[insurgeont]

[ Okay now that we've got that established.... ]

So that is not the solution to the first one. Blab sale. That is mostly b's and l's. But it is too long to be the ball....

[loveandwillpower]

You mean the baseball?

[ you can see the lightbulb flickering over her head - okay she's standing under an actual lightbulb BUT NEVERTHELESS ]

[insurgeont]

[ Oh, it's got a specific name? He guesses it is kind of a unique-looking ball. ]

That would fit as an anagram.

[ He will let Minako do the honors of burning the ball if only because he's not confident that it's actually the ball and not a weird name for eggs or something, he's not putting anything past humanity, tbh. ]

[loveandwillpower]

You can work that out in your head?

[ Into the blab sale it goes! ]

[pandatreasure]

[As easily as if it were paper, the baseball burns to ash, and the fire goes out. Something makes a keh-heh-heh noise that fades out into the ether as it does...]