[attr="class","emapokemonteam"][attr="class","emapokemonteam"][attr="class","emapokemonteam"][attr="class","emapokemonteam"][attr="class","emapokemonteam"][attr="class","emapokemonteam"][newclass=".emapokemonteam"]height:40px;width:40px;background:#2b2b2b;border-radius:100%;margin:0 5px;[/newclass]

Lutgarde's general demeanour isn't quite one you would expect from such a mysterious event - but at least, the curiosity might come in quite handy later still. They smile openly under their black mask that only covers the upper half of their face, leaving the rest unobscured, but even through the satin blackness, their eyes shimmer with a friendly attitude and no ill intent whatsoever. They dress in a more formal, gothic lolita dress with a pants suit instead of their usual poofy dresses, giving them an elegant air if they would be able to maintain it (they aren't).

"Thank you very much for the invitation!" they talk to their hosts, MAKI YUKIMURA and Seiichi Yukimura, "I'm looking forward to it!" They also greet the other guests friendly, wondering if there might be any familiar faces lingering beneath the masks, any voices they might recognise. Upon realising Elise Calcifet and Josh Devlin as ranger colleagues, they give these two another happy greeting, excited to also brave this evening with friends.

They do not know Marya Kareva , Elaine Highland or howard slayte , but they'd greet them similiarly kindly as they eventually take their seat - Lutgarde would be content to sit at whatever seat that would be empty still. The soup's served - or would be, if the maid hadn't spilled it. Lutgarde's half-way up to help them, before everything's already been handled and they sit back down. "It's alright, a bit more appetite will make the food even more delicious," they try to lighten the mood, continuing to chatter until the soup would be served proper.

Given their lack of culinary expertise, they do not notice anything at fault with the soup, and finish it up with the speed of someone who had quite a lot of siblings growing up - while never hungry, there's a certain hurry that just starts to become part of your soul. "What have you gotten?" they ask as the main course is served, curious to actually see different dishes on every plate. For them, they simply asked for meat and something filling, eventually ending up with a really high-grade Tonkatsu combination with some additional meat slices in sauce as well, and some vegetables. It's really strange how oddly refined it feels right now.

It's all- huh. In the dark, Lutgarde's standing up (again), though they once more remain unmoving, uncertain in which direction their host, slipping and falling perhaps because of the soup, has moved to. "Glad to see nothing happened to you, Mr Yukimura!" they say with relief, and sit back down again, before glancing at the floor where Seiichi has just laid. Has it been the soup?

tl;dr
- left image but in black-red + relatively normal black pants (but a bit frilly), black, gentleman-style leather shoes with bows on them & a upper half mask not fashioned after anything, black with lace
- greets everyone, thanks maki & seiichiro for the invitation
- takes whatever seat's empty still
- halfway stands up to help as the soup's spilled; sits back down, tries to make light chatter while waiting
- inhales soup, then the tonkatsu plus extra meat + veggies combo that's tailored for them
- asks the others what they've gotten for food
- stands up during the outage but doesn't move, relieved to see seiichiro is alright
- looks at the floor, trying to figure out if seichiiro slipped on soup from before?

The Elite Ranger and Champion may have been the only one in the VIP ROOM not in a suit; instead, he looked like a medieval knight, in almost solid yellow aside from the knight's helmet masking his identity. Perhaps he didn't get the memo about it being a masquerade, not a costume contest. For anyone that knew the man and his admiration for Raikou, or had been to any Halloween parties with him, it was obvious who was behind the helmet. "Thank you for allowing me to represent Hoenn's Hall of Fame," Josh replied to MAKI YUKIMURA . "Evening, everyone," he waved to apparently no one in particular, though if Lutgarde Dijkstra or Elise Calcifet were looking straight into him, they might have been able to recognize his distinct, blue eyes.

As the first batch of soup was spilled, Josh frowned and asked the server, "Are you okay?" Hopefully too much wasn't spilled over them, because with how much it steamed, it had to burn. When the second set of dishes came around, he waited a bit for the soup to cool down some; he remembered the last time he had burned his esophagus on soup that was too hot. Not fun. After it had cooled some, he had flipped his helmet's visor open and taken his first drink. The soups at the Checkered Flag and Alto Maren restaurants in Mauville and Lavaridge were better than this appetizer.

Before Josh was a big plate of noodles and meat-filled Alto Maren pasta drenched in rich, creamy white sauce. His family teased him about ordering "heart attack on a plate" when he was younger. Were he not so athletic, meals like this at the frequency he ate them would have made him overweight. Taking his first bite, it was heavenly. "Now this was worth waiting for." He couldn't imagine what the bill would be if he came out on his own, when it wasn't paid for with the invitation. He had requested a to-go box in advance; there was no way he was going to eat the entire plate in one night. He could get two, even three meals out of it.

In the middle of boxing up his leftovers, the power suddenly went out, leaving him in complete darkness. Setting his fork down and fumbling through his pockets for his phone, he retrieved it and turned on its flashlight. "Mr. Yukimura, are you alright?" he asked out of concern, flipping his helmet's visor back down now that he was done eating.

Duplicitous Masquerade VIP Room

Elaine was not sure what to say when she had found out she had been one of the winners in the scavenger hunt. But, at the end of it all, she was being led towards that very VIP Room that was the reward for the winners. Being a detective meant that the networking opportunities would be incredible here.

She had ended up opting to wear a very familiar red dress. Last time she had used it, she had still been recovering from the injury she had on the meteorite, but this time was different. The gaudy red dress which gradiented to black lace as it reached her chest was not contrasted by the awkward tan of bandage wraps. The red shawl with its golden clasp along with the four black straps from the dress lay perfectly symmetrical atop her shoulders this time.

Unlike last time, the dress and steel mask just felt right.

Steel yourself, Elaine. You've got this.

She had dressed herself of the occasion. She had prepared herself. So, she pumped herself up as she was let in through the doors of the VIP room.

"Thank you for having me." Elaine held her dress with both hands in a curtsy as she greeted the hosts of the event. After letting go of the dress and standing up straight, she looked to each of the other guests who had been invited.

Not a single person that I've met before, huh? That's a shame.

A quick scan of the others brought forth the fact that one of them had chosen a very similar color scheme to her own.

"It's a pleasure to meet each and every one of you."

With that single blanket greeting, she took her seat much like the rest. She was almost ready to get up to help the maid who had unfortunately spilled the first appetizer. But, the staff was quick to sort things out before any assistance was required. The disadvantage of being far enough from the scene was that she could not reach out to help fast enough but that meant that none of the food had splattered onto her dress.

Truly the silver lining.

It was just a shame that the replacement appetizer had been a bit of a disappointment. Sure, it was servicable, but it seemed kinda lacking. Elaine never had a discerning taste but there was definitely something off about it. Perhaps that was the downside of having to re-prepare the appetizer so quickly.

On the other hand, if it were intentional, it was a brilliant way to let the main dishes shine even more. Everyone had their own, but hers was a dish with two separate dishes placed onto one plate. On one side, a set of stir-fried noodles with fried tofu and multiple different types of peppers. On the other half was a mapo tofu glistening as red as lava, the peppercorns calling to her tongue.

She was struggling to hold back her saliva as she gazed upon the tantalizing mess of red on her dish. Luckily for her, she had also been provided with a pair of chopsticks--ones that looked well-made. Without a moment of hesitation, as the others had all begun to dig in, she did as well. One poke and twist of the chopsticks would hit the stir-fry. The next would hit the mapo tofu. Alternating, with each bite, she gladly felt the burn and bounce of the spices on her tongue--a flavor that could bring even the most hardened to tears.

"This is absolutely delicious!" She held her hand to her cheek with an almost childish smile as she spoke between bites.

Fortunately, the amount of food she had before her was going to be far beyond what she could finish in one sitting. Which meant it would sustain her for at least two more meals. Leftovers were truly a wonderful thing.

As she placed the chopsticks back down and wiped down her hands, the lights suddenly cut out. Next came the thud. Then, the lack of response after the first call of Seiichi's name. While it sounded like he had simply slipped on something, Elaine knew this kind of pattern all too well.

Immediately, she stood up from her seat and walked towards the sound only to find herself stopping halfway when she heard Seiichi's awkward laugh. As the lights returned and as the victim in question stood back up, Elaine sighed from her position and placed her hand on her chest. She looked at the area where he had probably been when he slipped, wondering if there was still remnants of the spilled soup there.

"That came dangerously close to the setup of a murder at a party, Mr. Yukimura. I hope you're alright."

---

TL;DR:

• Elaine's Dress and Mask
• Greets everyone and recognizes nobody
• Finds the main course to die for
• Immediately runs up to check up on Seiichi while the lights are still out but stops halfway when the lights return to look at the floor around where he probably slipped

Tags: N/A

Honestly, if Howard was rich and his personal chef ruined his miso soup, that might've been enough for him to start killing people.

It was a slippery slope, he supposed. What was the point of having money if you couldn't eat delicious food and have servants at your beckoned call? Hell, why even pay their salaries if they were going to fuck up their sole purpose for existence? Admittedly, it had been phoned in by their host, but what sort of chef made a perfect quantity of miso soup?

Applinbees made a massive pot of soup and constantly refilled Howard's bowl if he got the lunch special. The fact that the Yukimuras were losing to fucking Applinbees was proof that Hoenn was doomed.

Alas.

"A pleasure to meet you as well." Howard waved a cheerful hand at the person sitting next to him. "Love your dress. Nice colors!"

Elaine Highland 's dress was certainly better than the pastel nightmare that was Josh Devlin . The Master of Faster stuck out like a sore thumb, though Howard made no attempt to communicate with him yet. There were better times to talk about baseball or congratulate the new Champion.

If Howard had made it to the rank of Champion and got congratulated over the most mediocre cup of miso soup in existence, there was a serious chance that he'd start killing people. Again. It was best to start doing damage control now. He put on his best Elisabeth Fiorelli impression. She'd lie through her teeth for the sake of being the most elite person at the party.

"Not to worry, it happens. This is a stressful event. When I did part-time server work, I threw up all over my first customer!"

An awful moment, as the customer had docked his tip, having only tipped 14% instead of the Rustboro-mandated 15%. Alas.

When the custom dishes were sent out, Howard's dish was placed in front of him. Medium-rare Tropius flank grilled with Silver Pinap Berries, a special Tropius berry chutney, and topped with caviar laced with edible gold. Compared to everyone else's dishes, this one likely triumphed them all in terms of price.

Hey, if the Yukimuras were going to foot the bill, he was going to milk them dry. Shred would be proud.

"Oh boy this is gonna be so..." Howard prepped to take his first bit, before letting out a girlish shriek as the lights went out. "EEPOHMYGO-"

The lights were flicked back on shortly after. As Howard's eye adjusted to the light, he gave Elaine a glance.

"M-murder? That's ridiculous! That only happens in mystery novels and unsolved historical mysteries! It happened one time in 1693 in Kalos, sure, but that was a one time thing!"

---

Spending an unnerving amount of time on this miso soup
Eating food that will probably force the Yukimuras to mortgage the manor
Howard yapping to Elaine
Not leaving his chair
drip is in the signup thread

The scream was unsettling for sure, though the Champion's training as a Ranger and his hardened battle skills made so through the rigorous Champion Assessment kept him calmer than he would have been otherwise. When he heard MAKI YUKIMURA 's announcement about a murder mystery activity, he expected the scream to have been a recording. "Five? Weren't there supposed to be six of us at the dinner?" Josh asked.

Standing up and pushing his chair in, the Gym Leader smiled beneath his helmet. "I suggest it was Mr. Green with the Lead Pipe in the Kitchen," he joked, referencing an extremely old board game his grandparents played when they were alive. "Jokes aside, I think we need to determine where the act was committed and how. Miss," he gestured toward Elaine Highland , "mind coming with me to the kitchen? Might be worth examining the victim's body and personal effects."

Regardless of whether the detective would follow him, Josh would make his way to the kitchen, looking for any evidence of a fight breaking out, any unusually-placed objects, and the like.

Duplicitous Masquerade VIP Room

Had it just been left as Seiichi Yukimura's fall incident, Elaine would have been happy to just leave it as is. In fact, she was about ready to. She had taken her seat once again, only to be met with objection from her next-seat neighbor.

"You would be surprised how many mysteries start like this." Elaine gave a gentle smile. "It's not staggeringly common, but it does happen. After all, the cover of dark makes it easy for that kind of thing to happen. But to belablor that point here would be a bit crass."

But, she would not have to belabor the point further. A shrill cry as well as one of the maids bursting in, crying out that the chef was dead. Not collapsed. Not exhausted. Dead. The fact that she screamed dead alone meant that it was probably obvious at first glance.

Elaine did not hesitate for a moment. She stood back up, swung an arm around and pointed her bare palm to the maid and others in the staff.

"Close--"

But she had found her attempt to issue commands being cut midway as the lady who was at the head of this party quickly lied through her teeth. Elaine had been ready to bark out orders to call the police, close the perimeter, and keep anyone away from the body but that would have to wait.

Was this actually a mystery game or was it the hosts' attempts to keep everyone calm in an exceptional circumstance? Given Seiichi's reaction, the latter was more likely true. No, almost guaranteed. He seemed the type who was not quick enough to adapt undercover, so the improv theory was most likely.

She took a breath before walking towards the door. "Guess the first place to look at is the corpse."

But before she did, she walked by Maki. Rather than stopping by her, she walked past her and glanced to her side as she said one thing. "Make sure the police are called. The faster they arrive, the faster we can prevent evidence tampering."

As she walked towards the door, she had spoken up (even though the one in a helmet had already left). "Everyone else needs to focus on places other than where the body is located. The faster we lock down their current states, the better we can catch evidence before the 'culprit' gets to it." She had tried to use airquotes to play along with the game for now, but she wondered how many of the others would be taken in by the improvisation.

Afterwards, she began to walk off towards the pantry where the corpse was hidden. There was a chance that the culprit had moved the body and that by focusing on the body first, they would be able to remove evidence elsewhere. But she needed to make for the body first regardless. Dead men may tell no tales, but their remnants left behind much that words could not simply encompass.

And hopefully, the others would secure the other locations.

After walking into the kitchen and walked to the pantry to find the body. She had passed by the helmeted champion, but paid him no heed for now as he investigated elsewhere.

She donned a pair of black gloves that she had kept hidden and got to work looking at the body, feeling around the body, and smelling around it for any odd odors.

---

TL;DR:

• Elaine's Dress and Mask
• Does not believe it's a game and advises MAKI YUKIMURA to get the police to the scene ASAP while trying to play along
• Elaine tells the others to investigate the other locations
• Elaine goes to the body and starts thoroughly examining it.

Tags: howard slayte Josh Devlin

---

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[attr="class","emapkmn"][attr="class","emapkmn"][attr="class","emapkmn"][attr="class","emapkmn"][attr="class","emapkmn"][attr="class","emapkmn"][newclass=".emapkmn"]height:40px;width:40px;background:#2b2b2b;border-radius:100%;margin:0 5px;[/newclass]

"Oh, we match!" Lutgarde grins as they spot the red-black dress of Elaine Highland, "I'm Lutgarde. Nice to meet you!" they introduce themself, also to howard slayte, someone who they also do not recognise. The evening continues with some minor events, but nothing too major - except how they couldn't help but notice being the only one who finished a remarkably large portion in one sitting. (Their stomach might take qualities of a black hole indeed.)

A shrill shriek and sobbing maid interrupts the peace, and Lutgarde stands up alarmed, now rushing to the side of the maid, before- oh, that's what it is! They are not suspecting at all of the lie, and take it at face value. "Oh, you really got me there," they say, feeling relieved. They've been there at crime scenes and the like occasionally within their occupational area, so it's not a too unfamiliar feeling, even if there yet has to be a case where they could've actually helped with the deductions and all - they're more muscle than brain, for sure.

They nod as Elaine Highland and Josh Devlin go to examine the corpse. "I'll ask the staff and see if they might have figured out something out of order," they say - intuition-wise, they could also look for things out of place, but frankly, they have no idea what's normal for a posh mansion and what is not, so they feel better off lending an sympathetic ear to the brillant actors of the staff, who seem thoroughly rattled. "Anyone want to tag along?" they turn to ask howard slayte and Elise Calcifet, before turning to the maid.

"Hey, hi. I'm Lutgarde. Do you think you are ready to talk about what happened?" they ask the maid with a soft smile - and here, previous experiences as ranger in urban environments kick in, waiting patiently for the maid to settle down a bit from the "terrifying memory". "If you could tell me again in detail what happened, that would be very helpful. Or anything that stood out to you over the evening ... every detail could help us to solve this 'case'," they add, doing a little wink as they mention the case, as it's clearly part of the surprise murder mystery.

"Do you also know where the other servers are right now? I'd like to ask them as well, see if they might have some clues."

tl;dr (black-red gothic lolita suit)
- introduces themself to howard and elaine, chitchats with the latter
- fully believes that this is a surprise murder mystery
- moves to ask the staff; asks elise and howard if they want to join them
- asks the maid first in a soft, calm tone: what exactly happened? anything strange over the evening?
- asks where the servers are to question them as well (can be resolved this or next round, tho! would be the same questions for now)
QhzTGX5z

"A-A murder mystery?" Howard swallowed nervously as he looked from Elaine Highland to Elise Calcifet . "D-damn, that's crazy."

Great, he had to do work at a dinner party where the food had been paid for. What was even the purpose of this visit if the archaeologist had to participate in a stupid murder game? A certain murder mystery in a certain manor flashed into Howard's mind. If he could crack the code to that mystery, he could definitely deal with this.

"I t-think I'll... check the closet!" It'd make for a great place to cry. As nice as the masked Lutgarde Dijkstra seemed, Howard really wanted to sit this mystery out. "Good luck, everyone! Let's try to get this done in time for desert!"

Assuming the body wasn't real, that was. Hell, he didn't even care if the body was genuine. Howard was used to the large stack of corpses piled high in the name of Rocket.

It was always nerve-racking to see the bodies, though. Made everything more personal. With that in mind, Howard made for the closet and shut the door, leaving him alone with his thoughts. After a moment of standing, he clucked his tongue in annoyance and clapped his hands.

"Guess I'll be productive." He told the closet. It did not reply, nor did it raise objections as Howard plundered the Yukimura closet of Yukimura secrets. "What the...?"

---

Respectfully declining Lutgarde's request. Opts to cry in a closet instead of talking to women
Suspects that the body might be real, too overworked to care
Inspecting the closet
Hates life
ZSq8KRoW

Duplicitous Masquerade VIP Room

Corpses of murder victims never became less of a grisly sight. Elaine had been privy to some horrendous views before, but it never got easier. Hell, even the bodies that were left unrecognizable allowed her to create some mental distance between her and the corpse.

But, like this one, sometimes, they were so notably (relatively) pristine that she couldn't help but find some dissonance as she examined the body. The man in his forties was covered in what was likely flour, given the source of the powder nearby her. As she wiped away some of the flour, her eyes narrowed--focusing upon the thin lines that ran across his neck intermixed with thin scratches that ran perpendicular to the continuous lines.

"Strangled with some sort of wire...and awake enough during the incident that he was resisting."

It was safe to deduce that this was the likely site of the murder. That there had not been any dragging around of a corpse between the death and the discovery. It was not a definite yet. The nearby trail of flour had yet to fully eliminate that, after all. Not to mention, the body was...

"Cold..."

If the body was fresh, then it should have been warm. Usually, when the body began to cool, it would also begin to undergo rigor mortis, but it was still not showing any signs of that.

"Had the killer decided to hide the time of death? If so...had anyone even seen him recently? And who cooked our food?" Elaine muttered, the last one being more of a question asked by the unsettling sensation in her stomach as she came to those conclusions.

She turned around to the trail of the flour and noticed some of the flour on Josh Devlin 's shoe. He had definitely stepped on the trail at some point.

"Focus on finding out when the last time the victim was seen alive was. Given the temperature of the body, there's a chance that the killer tried to mask the time of death." She told Josh as she still remained on her knees.

In the next moment, she examined a few specific things. First, she took a look at the bottom of the chef's shoe. The next thing she did was look at the remaining footprints in the flour, trying to see where that trail of flour led.

And last but not least, she made her way to the fridge--the most obvious (and unsettling for implications of their dinners) place to hide a body before unveiling it.

---

TL;DR:

• Elaine's Dress and Mask
• Elaine deduces that the body may have been hidden in the fridge at some point
• Elaine surmises that the time of death may have been masked and tells Josh to go find out from the others when the last time the chef was seen alive was
• Elaine investigates the shoeprints, the flour trail, and the chef's shoeprints.
• Elaine also investigates the fridge

Tags: Josh Devlin

---

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