Star Trek: Starbase 777

It was a great time to visit the holoarcade for the first time. Definitely. “Okay, so… Q corpse, where?” They mumbled, peeking through the doorway, “It’s pretty dark in here, anyone got darkvision?”

Tal had something way better than darkvision: no vision at all. "Keep your hands slightly in front of you around hip height, and walk with your back upright. I am assuming that a public space such as this would keep overhang to a minimum, and we are both only of moderate height. As long as we do not have to straighten out precariously, our heads should be safe." He'd mastered the craft of walking around without precise awareness of his surroundings a long time ago. He wasn't certain what Nenn was, but whatever they were, they were shorter than him, and so less in danger of hitting their head unless their head had suddenly swapped places with their feet.

2

“Ooh, smart thinking.” They did as they were told, gloved hands out in hopes of not ramming any parts of themself against furniture. “Man, I wish I’d been here before all this. I won’t be able to look at arcade games the same.”

Something in the dark bumped against Nenn's foot..

“But yeaooooOOOOOOHFUCK.” They nearly jumped out of their refrigeration suit, “Fuck fuck fuck— something touched me.”

"Did it touch you, or did you touch it?" The distinction tended to be pretty significant, Tal knew.

“I made contact with it with my foot, I don’t know!” They exclaimed, “Fuck, it’s dark in here. Hold on.” They crouched, giving whatever it was a little poke. Hopefully, it wasn’t the body.

Definitely a body, of sorts, but it giggled when poked..

3

17:44

The lights were slowly brightened so as not to flashbang anyone, and in front of Nenn was Q— in all of her ringmaster-y glory, face down on the ground.

3

"I'm dead," she said, muffled. "Infinite darkness, et cetera."

7

2

“Motherfucker!” Nenn let out a rather undignified scream, stepping back, “Okay. Fine. Hi, Q. We found you.”

"You definitely sound dead," Tal said, irony thick in his voice. It's not against the Way of Absolute Candor if everyone can tell you're not speaking genuinely. The lights were coming back on, at least, which wouldn't help them much but it'd help enough. It'd help the... other person here, at least. Maybe they'd jump less if they could see.

“Oh, noooo… a dead body…” They said, with the enthusiasm of an exhausted drama student, “Oh, sweet, lights! My helmet visor isn’t made for dark places, so.”

Delevhas followed everyone into the arcade, and paused immediately once he saw the body. "Oh... Oh dear..." He said to himself, out loud. "Well... I guess we were right to come here, then!" He smiled as he attempted to cheer up the rest of the group a little. Delevhas then tried to put on the best detective persona that he could, as he kneeled down near the body. "First, we must establish the cause of death..." He mused, as he examined the corpse.

Tal couldn't actually see the body, so he would have to leave the examination of any simulated wounds or marks to... the panicky suit of armour and the puzzlingly jovial Romulan. "Will you tell us a clue, or will you simply lie there and laugh?" he asked the Q instead, the question not judgemental but rather inquisitive, hoping mostly for a straightforward answer either way.

Q giggled. "Stop it, that tickles..* Anything specific he was looking for?

“Uh… were you shot? Stabbed? Poisoned? Natural causes?” Nenn insisted, “Dude, we need a clue here, and you’re really chatty for a dead Q. Or are we supposed to look you over ourselves?”

"I can't tell you, I'm dead. You'll have to look for yourself," she answered innocently from where she was faceplanted. "I can turn over if you want, but that's all."

"If you could turn around, please, that would be lovely!" Delevhas confirmed.

"Then my aid is limited to what I am told by you both. But if the marks of the deadly encounter are described to me, or I am permitted to view them from another's eyes, I will assist in analysing their meaning," Tal promised severely, his restless eyes wandering as the light bathed the arcade into unhelpful shapes of differing hues.

Obediently, she flipped over, facing the ceiling. What sort of clues were they searching for? Injuries, anything left behind around the body? Specifics would be lovely.

Delevhas first looked for any signs of blood or external injury. Being a Romulan, however, he was more on the lookout for green stains, rather than stains of red or any other colour.

In terms of injury, the red of her coat had been singed by an obvious phaser burn along her left side..

"Are you unable to see-?" Delevhas looked up at Tal. "In that case, I shall tell you what I see. There is a dead body here. The coat which the body is wearing seems to be burnt..." Delevhas ran his finger across the burnt part of the coat. "Not by flames, though. I believe is it more like a... Not a disruptor, more like a... A phaser, yes! Although I would not be able to tell you which type of phaser it is based on these markings alone." Or even in general; Delevhas was a historian, not a gunman!

Q giggled again. "It's a very nice coat, it'll be a shame to make a new one," she mused unhelpfully.

"You are not very good at being a dead body, are you?" Delevhas's voice took on a tone as if he was speaking to his daughter. "Now I don't know much about being dead myself, but I believe dead people do not talk very often."

"I've never been dead before. I don't know how it works. And neither do you, so how can you say, truly?" she replied in a huff.

"If you could disappear all members of Starfleet from the station for the purposes of a game, I am certain you could create a pristine coat with no more than half a thought," Tal said, mulling over what Delevhas was saying. Phaser burn was a peculiar way to perish: it was not often that a phaser in the Federation was set beyond a 'stun' setting, and it seemed to him that a deadly burn would cover a large part of the body. Death from the impact of a phaser, on the other hand, would betray different damages, such as broken bones or haemorrhaging of the surrounding area or below any skin that may have made contact with a hard surface. "For the purposes of this game, what species are we to assume you are?" he asked the Q who was supposed to be playing dead, unsure if he was overthinking things.

Q thought for a long moment. "I don't know how to be anything else," she answered honestly. "Maybe Terran? My physiology represents them the closest."

“At least you’re not Breen.” They chuckled to themself, peering over the others’ shoulders, “We’d be finding bits of you everywhere.”

"If you were a Romulan, it would help me out quite a bit!" Delevhas spoke up, with a very obvious bias.

"Well, I'm not. So. You'll manage, won't you?" Q puffed out her cheeks, narrowing purple eyes at Delevhas.

"Oh well... Nevermind..." Delevhas said with a hint of disappointment. "... What about a Reman? Remans are nice!"

"Human physiology. In that case, I would like to request my companions try to ascertain any other markings on the body. May clothes be moved to bare skin to such purposes?" He figured he'd ask. He wouldn't like it either if people started pulling at his layers without warning. He was doing his best to ignore Delevhas as he went. He wasn't sure what the man was trying to do. (edited)

"How forward of you!... Yeah, sure, I don't mind." Convenient reality-breaking censor bars would be implemented if need be.

3

Tal wouldn't see anything anyway. Respectful king.

3

“Oh, fun. Nudity in the family-friendly murder games of doom.” Nenn mumbled, “Okay, let’s… take a look, I guess. I’d rather just find that murder weapon in the kitchen, clue-style, but whatever.” (edited)

Delevhas look up with large wet Romulan green eyes at Nenn. Delevhas assumed that Tal couldn't undress the corpse, and Delevhas didn't want to! There was only Nenn left, so... (edited)

Tal was perfectly capable of undressing the corpse but he literally just wouldn't see anything. Don't underestimate my man.

“Oh, fuck off. Fine. I’ll do it.” They met Delevhas’s eyes, and couldn’t ignore the puppy eyes, no matter how hard they tried to resist. “You owe me big-time, shoulderpads.”

1

With the jacket set carefully aside, it was clear that the phaser burn was not nearly enough to kill— though it certainly packed a powerful punch, enough to cause a burn..

Delevhas smiled gratefully as he stood up and stepped back. "Oh, but of course!" He replied. Being an ex-Senator, he knew exactly what it meant to owe a favour.

“Hmm… okay, phaser burn isn’t the death cause. I don’t really know a lot about Terran stuff, I’m kinda goop most of the time.” They hummed, trying to be respectful with the clothing, “Shoulders and Co? Any ideas?” (edited)

Delevhas, accepting the nickname of "Shoulders" (he was proud of his fashion sense!), fell into deep thought. "... If the phaser burn was not the cause of death, then something else was. In this case, we must establish whether the real cause of death happened before, or after the phaser blast..."

“Could’ve been a struggle, if Q’s got other burns.” They pursed their lips, thinking about what could possibly have been used as the actual instrument of death, “Could you two check ‘em over? I’m gonna search the room.” (edited)

"Am I Shoulders or Co?" He felt like he could guess, if the Romulan was indeed wearing shoulderpads. "You may refer to me as... Galankir. And I will not be able to check the body." But he was glad to have been right that the phaser mark was indeed not the killing blow. "Please, Shoulders. Anything you see I will attempt to interpret."

2

“I’m Nenn. And you, Galankir, are fortunately Co.” They called from where they had walked to, before tuning out to let the two discuss.

"Yes, of course, certainly..." Delevhas stared back down at the corpse, although he was anything except certain. He mused about all the other kind of deaths that could be, besides ohaser blast. His first thought was poison, for some reason. "... What if she was poisoned?" He suggested. "And the killer became too impatient to wait for the effects of the poison, so they shot her instead?" Delevhas kneeled down to the corpse again. "I'm sorry, if you could be so kind as to, uh... Open your mouth?"

Q's nose wrinkled in slight distaste. "Why?"

Delevhas paused for a second. "... Good question." Even if she was poisoned, Delevhas didn't actually know how to definitively test for that. His first thought was that perhaps traces of the poison, or an unswallowed pill, could still be in the mouth, but if that was so then surely the poisoned pill wouldn't have made it to the bloodstream. "Nevermind... Keep your mouth closed, actually..."

She pursed her lips. "Rude.."

The room was in a bit of disarray, admittedly— a few cabinets had been toppled over, and the phaser tag looked to be in disarray. One of the vests was even missing its phaser.

“Ooh… okay, we’re getting somewhere.” They let out a quiet whistle, “What happened to you guys…?” They dug around beneath the cabinet, before noticing the vest. Perhaps that was where the phaser burns had come from. But were the phasers here even that functional? Maybe someone had reprogrammed one??

Clever indeed, dear Nenn— the phasers weren't nearly strong enough to burn anyone. They were meant for children, after all.

3

So where the hell did the burns come from, if not for another, non-childproofed phaser? And since the burns weren’t even enough to “kill” the Q, what could have? Any more thinking today, and Nenn thought their brain might implode. The sacrifices we make for Q’o’clock, they supposed.

"Even if the phaser shot was the result of impatience, it would not have caused the death. Please look for blood or discolouration of the skin, particularly around the head and neck, or the abdomen. On humans, and others of red blood, the discolouration should likely be a shade of purple." And why would a poisoning victim end up in a firefight with their murderer, a fight that would injure but did not kill, and then still die in such a highly public place? Logic dictates a phaser burn would require medical attention, so a visit to the med bay would be required. Any poison that was fast-acting enough to kill in such a short time would also not warrant getting impatient over, unless the killer was absolutely useless. This was a game. He wasn't sure he could discount the possibility of the killer being useless. But it was still a possibility he didn't want to entertain quite yet, until other clues pointed that way. The far more likely option, at least so far, was that Shoulders was the useless one.

“Hey, folks, uh… these couldn’t’ve been used to burn Q. They’re kids toys, but there’s one missing anyways, meaning we’ve got an actual phaser somewhere, along with what’s left of the real murder weapon.” They called out, once more, “Any ideas on what else was used to kill our corpse?”

"Ah-! Terran blood is red, yes, of course..." Delevhas began to re-examine the corpse starting from the head, moving the lock of hair out of the way to look for evidence of blunt force head trauma; red and purple this time, not green.

There was a slight injury on the back of her head, not enough to kill, but enough for discomfort. A fall, perhaps?...

"I can see a small injury on the back of her head!" Delevhas announced immediately. "Although I do not believe it is enough to be the cause of death..." Delevhas continued examining, moving down to check the neck.

"But signs of a struggle nonetheless. Are there markings on the neck or abdomen?" Work your way through the list, Tal. When raising children, it is important to remember they do not understand multi-part instructions: if they come back to you having completed only the first half, repeat the latter so they may set off again. Unsure of what Shoulders' age actually was, he was at least being treated like a child right now.

2

1

“Alright. I’m heading to the other spot, I think there’s one place we left unchecked!” They announced to the others, stepping up to them, “Just shout if you find anything out about the, uh… Q body.”

"I don't see anything yet..." Delevhas turned his attention from any skin markings to the actual bones in the neck; what if her neck was broken? Delevhas tried to feel past the skin into the vertebrae.

No broken neck, by the looks of it, but looking so closely..something was off about the area around her mouth. Q was being a very good corpse and deserved praise for it. Btw.

3

"... Looks like there's something around the mouth..." Delevhas narrated himself as he leaned in closer to take a better look, apologising quietly to the corpse for getting in her personal space.

"If you want to kiss me, you can ask," Q chirped. The skin around her lips was mildly irritated.. "I'll say no, but I'll be flattered you did."

"No thank you, that is certainly not what I am thinking about right now!" Delevhas answered quickly. "... What does it mean if the skin around the lips is irritated?" Delevhas looked up and asked Tal. "Do you think she was... Tricked into drinking acid...?"

"Mm, delicious," came the sarcastic reply.

3

"Hii, whatcha doin'? Is her head still attached?" A little pink vulcanoid poked their head in the door.

A large grey-haired Romulan also took a peek inside, just above the pink one.

"How would you trick one into drinking acid?" What a fascinating concept.

"Oh, it's quite simple, really!" Delevhas replied cheerily without elaborating, as he waved for the new people to come in. "Come, come! All are welcome to solve the mystery!" (edited)

"Acid has a very distinct taste," Maggie chirped in reply, waving at Q, who waved back. "We heard you guys weren't doing so hot."

"Anything we can assist with, Mandukar?" he asked, choosing to come closer. That sure's a body. Pretending to be a dead body, but that's semantics at this point.

So much attention, you'll make a girl blush!

"We are working at our most efficient pace to deliver our best results according to our internal timetable!" Delevhas answered in a way that was very... Politicianly...

"Please aid Shoulders in describing any damage to the body to me, so I may speculate as to the murder weapon." Tal could at least trust Rojin to speak and think quickly, so that the investigation would proceed a little more quickly.

"Okay. Any zones you've already covered, or do you want a repeat?" he might as well specify... "From what I understand, you're currently analyzing her face."

"Irritation around the mouth was mentioned, but I have no further details." He thought about it for a second, before simply recounting what else he knew. "There is a phaser burn on the torso, and a mark on the back of the head. Neither constituted a killing blow, but may be interpreted as evidence of a physical altercation."

"If you would like, you could come closer." Delevhas stood up and took a step back to allow Rojin the chance to examine the body for himself.

"Hm," was the simple reply, before he leaned over the body to take a closer look at the aforementioned irritation, not being too shy about gently turning her head left and right to get a better look. Were the lips affected, or was it just skin around them? What did the irritation look like?

Both. The skin around her lips had a ring of reddish welts.. and while the color couldn't be seen through her lipstick, the mouth seemed to be a bit irritated as well.

"There are small bumps circling her mouth and some on the lips themselves, reddish in color," he reported, all the while pointing at what he was describing. Not helpful to Tal, but it was a gesture meant for the rest of the group. "To me it looks like something that could've happened due to an allergic reaction."

.. additionally, there was some white powder on her collar.

2

He crawled into the room, covered in blood and stab wounds! Just kidding, he didn't have blood. He walked normally, like a normal person. "What's cookin', good-lookin's?" Record breaking flattery: call everyone in the room hot at the same time.

21:39

Yes, that included the corpse.

3

Muffled giggle from the corpse. Thanks, Noid.

4

"The looking is going exceptionally poorly, actually," Tal said, though it was unclear whether that was a joke or not. He mulled over Rojin's assessment. "Ingestion of an allergen can be lethal," he said, but he would assume that usually that would cause a more full-body reaction than just around the mouth. If the irritation was so localised... "Can the irritation be found elsewhere on the body?"

Oh me oh my. Given that this guy was still in his work uniform, he transferred some of the powder onto his handkerchief, before taking a closer look at it's texture. Are they small crystals? Or something that genuinely just looks like dusty powder? "One moment. There's some sort of dry substance on her collar, I'm trying to understand what it is..." which meant a freebie to inspect for anyone else while Jin's busy!

He poked some of the white powder with his finger and licked it. "Yep, it's flour," he said, wiping the rest of it on his shirt. Unless it wasn't flour, in which case he would say yep, it ISN'T flower.

1

Rojin just gave him a look. Not that of a disappointed father who caught his child eating sand, because a few moments earlier Rojin himself offered to dump a potential poison into the android's system, but nevertheless it was a curious one.

Definitely flour.

Do you know what else definitely had flour on? A certain Romulan’s apron as he made his way into the holoarcade. After the little talk with Q, he was curiously calmer. Thus was the power of venting to an almighty being and living to see the next day, it seemed.

He saw the look. Unsure of how to interpret it, his knee-jerk reaction was to wink. It would have been a lot smoother if he hadn't just impulsively eaten a mysterious substance and had smeared some of it onto his shirt. In his defense, it seemed to be working out so far! "So she's, like, allergic to bread? Or whatever? Or the bread was poison? Poison burger bun?" (edited)

"Oh no, not poisoned bread. That's so sad, bread is so good." Their flat tone suggested some sort of sarcasm, but there was a genuinely sad little quirk to their lips. (edited)

"Flour, huh. Why on her collar, though..." he uttered, still loud enough for Tal and others to hear. "I shall check her palms and wrists for the irritation now. Those would be the most likely places, I imagine..."

"So many people," Q mumbled, obediently taking off her gloves. Irritation free.

"Do gluten allergies usually manifest like this? Wait, does the internet work here?" He spoogled GLUTEN ALLERGY SIGNS EXPLAINED SIMPLY.

He inconspicuously approached the group reunited around the not-corpse. Honestly… he hadn’t expected anything better, how else would have Q gotten a corpse without actually killing anyone? “What did we discover already?” He asked in a bored tone.

No wi-fi :(

1

Delevhas listened to the talk about flour being on her collar... Then turned to the baker, who had flour on his apron... "... Good evening..." He approached Vellek, looking for any other details on him that may be relevant.

"Or swelling of and a rash on the neck. I do not think this is an allergy, but I am willing to explore all options to reach the correct differential diagnosis." Tal decided to simply state his thoughts, hoping to at least explain his thought process. What he wasn't going to explain again was the information they'd all gathered so far. The only way he'd do that is if everyone was there, and actively listening to him. He didn't feel like repeating himself ad infinitum: his throat was already starting to hurt from talking so much.

"No wi-fi :(" he said, perfectly pronouncing the frowny face. "Is there, like, an epipen or is that just peanut allergies?"

"Nothing on her palms," he reported to Tal, before lifting his mismatched gaze upwards to see the new arrival. Up, down, up. Hmh. "Nothing much. Though, say - are people susceptible to allergies from flour? I imagine you'd know."

1

”People can be susceptible to allergies from anything.” Vellek answered, unbothered. He was a baker, he was wearing an apron, he was covered in flour, Rojin’s words only pointed what was obvious to everyone. “But a strong enough allergy to kill fast, due to anaphylactic shock, would leave tells internally. I suppose she wouldn’t let us slice through the corpse to check for laryngeal or pulmonary edema.”

"Please don't," she squeaked, holding her hands protectively over herself.

”A bit unorthodox… but we could interrogate the corpse? First time I get to see one that speaks still.” He looked at her. “Just to know what you felt when you died. You of course control how much we know… you can choose to ignore any questions you deem unfit.”

He looked at the Q, the first time he'd done so directly. "Play-acting being scared?" After all, it's not like any of them could actually touch her without her snapping her fingers and turning them to mush.

"It's the principle of the thing! You wouldn't like people talking about dissecting you in front of you," she pouted. "Besides, I don't know what human organs look like. I'd be useless."

"The corpse does not answer questions. That was the first thing I attempted, on account of the blindness." Something petty in Tal wished they would all leave him alone with the corpse, and maybe Nenn and Rojin. They were the only people so far who had been any help.

Fair enough. He didn't even like being opened up for maintenance. "It's like, uh, a bunch of water balloons filled with slime and blood, and a bunch of meat, and, uh..." He actually didn't know either.

Q grimaced. "Gross.."

"Should we meet up with everyone?" Maggie posed, trying to escape the thick haze of annoyance starting to cloud the room. "I think we should find somewhere to talk everything through we've found so far."

Korozysh crawled in at some point which I am unsure of and wrinkled her face looking at the body. "Bleh....." She cringed. She heaved herself to her feet, looking down.

"Oh, it isn't even that bad," she huffed. Rude!

”I wouldn’t know as I’ve just arrived.” He shrugged, not that Tal could see the motion, but the sense of “I’ve just reached a level of fed up I simply do not care enough about this joke” could be felt all around him. “We could reunite everyone in the hall, I suppose others are still in the other rooms. Put together everything we have so far.” He nodded at Maggie’s suggestion.

"Did we... Actually agree on a meeting place?" Noid asked. "The others aren't gonna know to go to the hall. Maybe Q can just snap us all into the same room."

"The event hall sounds good, if nobody else has any protests," Maggie agreed, unaware of its new state.

"I'm offended you think I can't communicate with my clones," Q retorted.

”Or maybe someone goes to each room to summon them to the meeting? There is nothing stopping us from walking freely.” No more Q voodoo please.

"They're on their way," she reported cheerfully. "Head out whenever. I won't move an inch!"

Thank GOD get them out of here. Bye everybody.

"But snapping would've been sooo much easier..." he whined as he left the room. If he was a Q, he'd never walk again.

He followed them. Vellek was glad he could still use his legs to choose where to move to.

Ooh, she could take a nap while everyone was gone... Zzz.....

Maggie re-entered the holoarcade to find a holographic caution tape around the now.. very still and silent body, and a security officer posted up beside it. "You gotta be kidding me," they muttered.

Blinking awake from her nap, the security guard rubbed her eyes, somehow not smudging her face paint in the process. "Investigator, right?.. do what you gotta do, I'll be here..."

... okay???? What the hell, sure.

2

He entered the room once more. Before, he had been focused on the body, now he wanted to look at the room. “You.” He directed himself towards the Q wearing a security uniform. “Are there any workers we might question? People that could have seen what happened or what Q was doing before she got murdered?”

"I'm just here to guard the body," she answered, scratching the back of her head. "I dunno anything about anything. Think everyone cleared out when it happened."

”By the… what good is a crime scene with witnesses if we can’t talk to the witnesses?” He buffed. Honestly… that was supposed to be basic 101 murder mistery: you talked to the people working at the establishment and the owner. But fine! He would look around since there was no one to talk to. But first and most importantly: was the security guard sporting a phaser in her belt/vest?

She was indeed.

"I've got statements, if you want them," she said casually, stretching her arms over her head with a yawn. What an infuriating person..

!?! "Why didn't you say something before??" *Maggie accused, looking up from where they'd been poking around under false rocks and such.

"Forgot," she answered simply, plucking a PADD from who knows where.

1

”Good, let’s hear them then.” Or read them. He signaled for Maggie to come closer with his head.

The Q cleared her throat, reading off the PADD in a flat tone; "The lights were out. No one saw anything." Wow. Riveting information.

2

”Thats it?” He raised an eyebrow. “No account of what she was doing before? No impressions? Nothing? Pfff… convenient.” He decided then to take a look at the place where the vests were stored, where the others found the one that lacked a phaser.

"Don't shoot the messenger..." Security Q hummed in a sing song voice.

The entrance to the phaser tag area was barren of people. The vests were all still neatly hung up, including the broken one.

"I wonder if it's around here somewhere," Maggie mused, peering around Vellek into the maze.

”The phaser? Could be…” He looked at the entrance before getting close enough to the vests to inspect the broken one. “Maybe Q was playing tag and someone had really bad aim.” *A dry joke? From this stoic Romulan baker? Certainly not.

Maggie snickered, peering into the dark maze. "Creepy in there, though. Don't wanna get stabbed..."

The phasers were secured to the vest so no tricky little brat could make off with one, but the broken vest had a clean break, as if sliced through.

”Would you phantom that…” Vellek took a close look noticing the break. “Seems like whoever did this, could have taken it out with a knife. There could be some at the different bars, none here though. We should look at them to see if any knife set is missing.” He then looked at the maze and at Maggie. “In there we go for now. And let’s try to not he stabbed, yes.” And from the pocket of his apron Vellek produced…. A mighty wooden spoon.

1

"I'll be back here," Maggie offered helpfully, poking out behind Vellek. If anything happened, they didn't wanna be the one to get stabbed, and he seemed a lot stronger than they were.

”Let’s go then.” Vellek advanced, ready if anything were to happen. A spoon wouldn’t win against a knife or a phaser, but Vellek hoped to distract anyone that could try to attack them enough to maybe get a good punch and maybe disarm them. He was still strong when it came to hand in hand, even at 127 years.

"Does it even prove anything, really?" the magician mused, eyes darting around as they listened, their senses constantly buzzing with their own anxiety. "We know the phaser shot her. What is finding it going to prove?"

”The phaser burn is still a variable we need to understand. When it happened? Where? Why? People seem to think Q might have been poisoned, so why shoot her as well? Especially with such an obviously non-lethal method?” He kept walking, could he find anything maybe? (edited)

The laser tag was still in slight disarray. Maybe hidden somewhere, under a false rock, or a cabinet, or...

Didn’t those things have little lights on them? He kept looking around, signaling for Maggie to help with the corners and the crevices.

Oh, there! A light coming from under one of the false rocks. Faint, but there nonetheless.

Carefully, he approached and slowly he bend his knees to reach for the rock and turn it over, revealing the source of faint light.

Phaser acquired.

Vellek rose and turned to Maggie. “Let’s go back to properly analyze it and see if the others got anything else, it is too dark here anyway.”

"Okay!" Yay! Another W for being completely useless. Maggie trotted happily along behind him.

1

One final look at the body. Well- okay, maybe look was the wrong word, but at least Rojin would be able to communicate the things that could only visually be ascertained. Tal was never one to judge someone for their more questionable skills, and so the fact that he and Rojin both seemed to know their way around dead bodies was, in this moment, less of a cause for questions and more of a convenience. "I am hoping we arrive at an answer soon," Tal said, missing the normalcy of a myriad of souls around him. The souls that had been around him since the appearance of the Q had been anything but normal.

He followed Tal-terrh, beelining it to the body, awfully comfortable in their shared predicament. Two very normal men doing normal men things, what could go wrong. "Do you want me to pick up where we last left? We were inspecting the body's head," the bartender asked, this time rolling his sleeves up. Might as well entertain their otherworldly guest with some roleplay.

1

"Please, I am dependent on your aid," Tal said, motioning for Rojin to go ahead. "Please confirm a scent if possible, as per our prickly friend's suggestion." The bouncer. He was referring to Bouncer Q.

Tal could hear a chuckle, before Rojin did as asked, absolutely unfazed by the actions. He was not about to pretend in front of Tal, who probably already had enough context clues to start suspecting things about his somewhat friend. While checking for any particulat scents, he also decided to double-check the victim's throat. Any swelling, or reddening, or anything of sorts?..

Nothing particularly useful scent wise, though oddly, Q carried the scent of buttery popcorn. Like a fair, or a carnival. Not relevant to the case though, just a fun fact. No sign of swelling or reddening, either. The main disturbances along her skin were the burn and the hives around her mouth.

"So there is no smell," he reported to Tal. "Besides the, well... popcorn. Which I think is irrelevant to this case. I have also checked her neck, and I see no swelling or any other odd symptom. It looks normal."

Tal wasn't sure he knew what popcorn was. "A mild scent, no swelling, but a rash. Still, if the scent was faint enough, it could have been washed away. We don't know how long it took for the poison to take effect." It did rule out any fragrant poisons that worked rapidly, though.

2

Rojin let out a gruff hum in response. "Convenient. I doubt there is anything else left for us to do here, so... perhaps we should go and rejoin everyone in the hall?"

"I will follow you." Tal hoped everyone had banded together to make sense of it all. The sooner they figured it out, the sooner things would go back to the way they were.

And with that, Rojin would lead the way to the events hall.