Star Trek: Starbase 777

The ballroom hung hauntingly silent compared to the music that had floated through mere moments earlier. The lights were low, candles flickering on the walls. Rose petals, red as blood, were scattered along the walls and the top of the glossy black grand piano. Any footsteps echoed off the high ceilings. Something white stood out against red atop the piano, accompanied by a yellow evidence card and a soft dinging sound. #6. Though, elsewhere in the room, something buzzed, slightly muffled.

Liaxaho strode into the ballroom with all of the seriousness of her position as a detective -- even if she usually was not wearing heels during her actual work, even if she usually was not wearing such a fancy dress. She took a look around the room, noting details both large and small, looking for anything that seemed 'out of place'. After a moment, she seemed to glide over to the piano, enchanted by the evidence card and the white among a sea of red. "Now... what do you happen to be..."

The piano was topped with two white feathers, a sharp contrast to the sea of red. There was still a sheet of music on it as well, though it didn't look like it'd been used for a while and the title of the piece was scribbled out, as well as...most of the music, save a few sections.

Lapan strode in after Liaxaho, following her as she made for the piano, though he turned his head trying to find the source of the buzzing sound. Doing that while he was following after someone was difficult, though, and he barely stopped short of the detective. "What's all this? Feathers?" he asked, chirping involuntarily at the sight.

"It would appear to be so, feathers and a sheet of music -- perhaps it is trying to tell us something, do you have any ideas" She asked as she raised a finger to her lips, tilting her head to the side.

Lapan mirrored Liaxaho, tilting his own head as he looked at the sheet music. He was pretty okay with music notations, having been in singing lessons since he was very very small, but pianos were outside of his wheelhouse. "I could... hum it? Or whistle, maybe? Is there a part that's still intelligible? I'm not sure what to do with the feathers, to be honest." Trying to get a feel for music with absolutely no context wasn't easy, per se, but he could do it. He didn't have perfect pitch, so it might not be awesome, but he could do it.

The sheet music was on the stand as intended, though the feathers were labeled with the evidence card #6

"The feathers are the evidence, I believe, we just need to determine what they mean. I would advise against touching them in case context is important. In the meantime, humming the visible part of the tune could be useful -- or perhaps we could write down the letter names of the visible notes? Whatever you think would be the most fortuitous in this situation." They felt empowered by the situation, they felt like they were important somehow. A detective in an old-school murder case.

"Oh, that makes a lot of sense! We can do all of that, I think." Lapan hadn't even thought about writing the notes down, though he had gathered that touching the feathers was probably not too wise. If he could avoid touching everything ever aside from maybe the floor, he would. He patted his pockets for something, before revealing a very convenient pen from the inside pocket of his suit jacket, and starting to jot the notes down.

The notes didn't seem to have any particular word tied to them on first glance, mostly forming garbage nonsense.

Liaxaho was not one to give up at first glance if something made no sense, she was the type to try everything she could to see what worked and what didn't "I have a few ideas, the first being an anagram, and the second being a code."

"I can do codes, sometimes, but code for what. Or uh, how would we decypher it?" he asked Liaxaho, before looking back at the notes and starting to whistle, trying to get the tune at least right enough to recognise it. Even if it didn't end up going anywhere, he wanted to have tried it.

"I am not entirely sure what it might mean, but I know that these notes must mean something" she hummed along with the tune, trying to see if she recignised it as well.

The music had too many pieces blacked out to be a distinct or recognizable melody, though bits and pieces flowed together to make for something..jarring, like a horror movie theme.

"Sounds unsettling," Lapan said, though he didn't recognise it. Wasn't much to actually recognise, to be fair, but it still sucked. "Okay, so. The music isn't much, I don't know what the feathers mean even though they probably mean something, but did you hear a buzzing sound when you walked in? Maybe that's something." Lapan looked around the ballroom once more; he just wanted to find stuff. Did the rose petal trail represent a trail of blood, maybe? Did it lead to some other clue? Or more evidence, even?

The roses were wrapped around the walls of the room, not seeming to lead any place in particular besides the pile on the piano.

"I did hear a buzzing sound, perhaps that might hold another clue for us," she said as she tried to determine where the buzzing might have been coming from. On a whim, she decided to play the few snippets of sheet music on the piano, thinking about some puzzle she heard about when she was younger.

The buzzing grew louder, sounding more like the soft chime of a bell from above.

On instinct, trying to figure out the buzzing, Lapan looked up. Ringing bell, like the feathers? Maybe? That would mean there was more evidence in the room, right? "It's up there somewhere... I hope we don't have to climb stuff."

No need -- Something metallic clattered onto the ground nearby. A skeleton key and a scrap of fabric, the latter with a yellow sticky note on it reading #3.

3

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"Oh, hey!" Lapan looked at the spot where the sound came from, chirping in surprise. He walked over, and nudged the key with his foot, before determining that it was separate from the evidence, probably, and picking it up. He left the cloth alone. He really didn't want to touch evidence, that felt like just about the only thing he knew about solving murders. "Do you wanna look at the evidence? You seem to know what to do a lot better than I do," he told Liaxaho.

"I would love to look at the evidence," Liaxaho said with a smile as she walked over to where the evidence fell, bending down to get a better look at it, trying to tell what sort of fabric it was, what color, whether there was any blood on it, the works, all without touching it.

Black, looking almost sleek in texture. A little bit of blood at the end of it.

Liaxaho noted this down before she stood again, brushing off her dress and looking to Lapan, "I think this might be everything in here, shall we meet up with the others in the hallway?"

"Sure! I think this key will be the most important thing in here, so maybe someone else knows what to do with it!" Chittering happily, Lapan made his way back tot be hall alongside Liaxaho. He was having a lot of fun with this! It was a very nice touch that the evidence was labelled so clearly. He didn't have to worry so much about what and what not to touch that way.

1

And thus, with another flourish, Liaxaho walked towards the #┊-hallway , small smile on her face as she pondered what connections she could make with what she had.

He entered the room and beelined toward the pile of rose petals on the piano. He grabbed the feathers and a handful of rose petals, then left.

Yaveru entered the ballroom, intending to enter a few rooms before listening to what the group in the hallway was thinking. Her eyes locked onto the piano as soon as she stepped foot in there, and the rather odd music sheet on it. Taking a closer look, she hummed out the melody as she read it. An old habit from her Academy Symphony days. It seemed a bit familiar, but weird. It was mangled and twisted, maybe a code of some sort? A morse code in it’s rhythm? Or spelling out something with the notes? Maybe the time signature was important, if it was not already obscured by the black boxes.

Allan walked into the ballroom, looking at the candles flickering on the walls and oooh, the rose petals were nice... and on the piano, too? That was pretty sexy, not gonna lie. He walked up to the piano and looked at the sheet music, tilting his head as he read it. "Hmmm, I mean.. I could try playing the notes first and then try.. whatever this is?" He asked as he sat down at the piano and played the notes F, A, C, and E. In order first.

“Huh? What notes?” Yaveru was caught a bit off guard at Allan’s sudden appearance. She had been stuck wondering that it was like he just teleported in. “I guess you guys got new clues?”

The music echoed through the ballroom for a moment. Something slid open on the piano, and a glass case rose up and rested on top. Inside, Beauty and the Beast style, was a white rose dipped in scarlet.

"Oh! Yeah, sorry, there was a uh, a box..." he gestured to the box he'd placed on top of the piano, "said something about facing the music but like, it spelled it out." He watched as the piano had some secret compartment and... oh! A rose case. And a pretty little rose dipped in scarlet.. also very sexy. He'd have to grab the code for this room specifically for later use if he could. "I'mma take this back to the hallway, though.. you should come! We're just kinda like, combining all the clues now." He said and then he took the little glass case over to the #┊-hallway !

She nodded, quickly making her way back to the hall, as fast as she could in heels. The rose was a bit peculiar. Maybe it was like a signature, or a calling card? She didn’t know, but nobody else did for now.

Ten sarcastically clapped "Bravo, Bravo" Then followed Allen back to the hallway.

Rakim entered quietly as he continued to hold the finger print Brush and dust container. As he entered, deep in thought as he passed others, Rakim started to look around.

Rakim continued to explore the area as he looked for anything interesting that might have been left.

Nothing really left to look at.

23:31

Unless you like playing a funky little tune. Piano's just there for fun at this point, though.

Seeing nothing seemingly has been messed with or concealed...just taken, Rakim departed.