Gameplay Thread

George W. Bugbee entered the corridor partially to see what all the commotion was all about, but mostly to ask his noisy housemates to please keep it down (again), but his slim 5'-7" frame is hardly imposing. His brown hair is parted in the middle and swept back behind his ears. He has piercing, but cold gray eyes. He is wearing a one time expensive suit that has become shabby and threadbare (especially in the elbows).

Jack Karosas keeps to the back of the gathering crowd, taking care not to get in anyone’s way or attract attention, and looking more curious than concerned. He wears a white button down with the top two buttons undone and the sleeves rolled up, with dark gray dress pants and modest shoes. He stands at 6 feet 2 inches tall, built like someone who has done manual labor his whole life, with mid-length, lightly curly hair brushed to one side.

Nora Fontaine stands close to the landlady, showing impatient and eager, wanting to nose her way in and figure out what Mr. Gardiner has been up to. She's an older, German woman, but still has plenty of energy at 58 years old, even if her old joints nice a bit slower these days. Her Auburn hair is liberally streaked with grey, pulled back in a tight braided bun, and she is wearing a serviceable and expertly patched navy dress and sensible shoes. Eccentrically, she wears two different earrings, a star on the left and a lady bug on the right.

The landlady is an dominant figure in the doorway, wide enough to form a blockade if she wanted to. Something the borders have likely experienced once she gets chattering away at a door, with no sign of escape around her. Rosana's Brazilian heritage is evident not only in the richly tan complexion of her skin, but also the lilt in her voice holding the slight accent she adopted from her immigrant parents. Her dress is simple, looking handmade with mauve and pink floral pattern fabric.

She holds her characteristic smile as she fumbles with the keyring, but the knit at her brow betrays a hesitancy, or perhaps concern. "Oh, this is all just nothing, I am sure. You know James, always keeping to himself most days. He is probably just- Ah. Here we go."

Rosana chuckles, looking to Nora with a quaint bobble of her head. "That's the key."

And she turns the key in the door, keeping the smile upon her face despite the nervousness the rest of her features show.

Lettie is a young woman with a mop of curly red hair, dressed in a casual wool waistcoat and white shirt with matching pants. Her attire is worn but well cared for, with several buttons mismatched. She carries a book under one arm, and her green eyes are magnified slightly by the reading glasses she has forgotten to take off. Even standing on her tippy toes, she still cannot see much over the others. She curses her short stature and tries to wedge closer to the door. Her concern for her missing book is slowly draining from her mind as it is replaced with concern for her housemate and friend. As the door swings open, Lettie optimistically hopes to find James alive and well, simply busy with one of his projects. She glances in, trying not to let her anxiety get the better of her.

At first, Lettie didn’t realize what the strange odor was, at first, she thought maybe Mr. Gardiner had gone away and left some fruit out. She nudged her way to the front of the group to get a better look and the optimism faded like a cruel joke finally clicking in. It was the first body that Lettie had ever seen outside of the perfumed stage of a funeral home. Her stomach lurched and her breakfast came up in a violent splash, adding even more layers of odor to the room. She turned red, and apologized to the others, turning away from the scene.

She wiggled back out of the crowd instead and tried to get eyes on the kid. She looked up to the upper-floor bannister to see if he was still there. She did not want him to see this.

"Hey, kiddo, your mom is busy at the moment," Lettie says, forcing a smile and praying that it doesn't look too deranged. "But she said I could give you a nickel to go buy a treat and play outside for a while." She pulls a nickel from her pocket and heads up the stairs, hoping to distract him from the morbid scene below.

From his initial vantage point George cannot directly see the carnage before them, but the smell is a pretty good indication of what has been discovered. The sound of Ms. Hayes retching confirms his suspicions. He leans forward and is appalled by the brutality in which Mr. Gardiner has been dispatched.

"My God..." he mutters in shock, his mouth agape. "We have to call the police..." he says to no one in particular, his eyes remain fixed on Mr. Gardiner's corpse.

Standing taller than most in the crowd, Jack sees Mr. Gardiner almost immediately. He’s seen his fair share of gut-wrenching sights on the farm back home, but this is… gruesome. He says nothing, but his stomach turns and his eye twitches, and the next few breaths are closer to haggard gasps. When Jack finally settles his mind, his first thought is of his siblings. He thought moving them to this boarding house would keep them safer than being on the streets or in a tent city, could he really believe that now?

Nora, standing next the the landlady, has an unobstructed view of what is now the body of Mr. Gardiner. Perhaps for the first time, she is feeling the sting of regret of wanting to know, wanting to see, but the gruesomeness of this scene is something she still needs to make sense of. Nora's mind grasps at what may make sense of this, how to tell the story to herself and others. She steels her spine and her lips tighten into a solemn grimace.
"I never liked the look of him. He had the look of being about something unsavory. And here it is, about as unsavory as you can get."
Her eyes dart away from the scene to observe her fellow boarders and the landlady, curious to see if there are any odd reactions as well as to give herself the relief of not actively taking in the visuals though the sharp smell of blood still reached her, making her right eye twitch.

The landlady heard little Tommy's voice, as if a distant whisper. She heard the voices of those in the hall, but very little of their words registered. With brown eyes going wide, she lets out a shrieking wail. She presses her hands to the side of her face, quickly shaking her head as she stumbles forward, eyes watering. She stumbles forward shakily, approaching the body on uneven feet.

It was clear he was dead, but it did not stop her from getting down to her knees beside him, and reaching a hand out towards the body, as if debating on attempting to shake his shoulder. "James? J-James? Oh noo- Oh meu Deus. No, not this- This can't be."

George takes a moment to calm his nerves and collect his thoughts, then he addresses the group.

"Does anyone know if Mr. Gardiner had any family or friends? Perhaps we should look to see if he has an address book...so we can contact his people?"

Nora shakes her head, clasping her hands tightly in front of her to disguise their tremors.
"Mr. Gardiner is...was...a mystery. Two years he's lived here among us. In those two years, I've seen no visitors, no family. He's mentioned no one, but I've been hard pressed most days to get as much as 'how do you do' from the man."
Nora looks back into the room, and takes a shaky few steps through the doorway, curiously looking for indications in the space he lived in of who this man was. What photos has he placed? Is the place well maintained? Are the books or trinkets that give insight int Mr. Gardiner's life?