Better Left Forgotten

"Shall we move to a more private room? There is more news, but we're still quite public," Hector said.

"Only Our Lord may pass judgement," Grimm said. "Why did you let them escape? Did you get tired of hunting them in this place?"

Cameron:<Yesterday on the way to visit Tirea in the hospital. I only got out a few minutes ago.>

Eve:<After the meeting we should go see if he's still enrolled here.>

Sab began to tear up at the sight of Thiera.

Noct nodded towards Hector, "Yeah, we probably should."

E"Yeah...I guess all we can do now is go in, see what Thiera knows. Roatha's missing too, by the way."
=============================
*Aroma squeezes Sab's hand.*

T"Al--alright. We'll take that one right over there. Can someone send Taiyo, Euryale, & Eve a message saying where we are?"

*She points to an enclosed room with her free hand.*
=============================
<20 questions is over. Now we're going to play "Tag." Everyone but you is "It." Just try to get out of this forest alive, Grimmy.>

"Alright," Hector took out his phone and sent a message to Euryale while heading over to the room.
You have Taiyo and Eve with you? We're in [specified room] of the library.

Grimm tensed his grip on the pistol and waited.

Taiyo: "Tirea's in the hospital?"

===================================

The two follow silently to the undisclosed room.

*Cameron nods*

<We were sure the shadow got her, but she survived.>

<...You're not very bright, are you?>

*The Shadow lurches towards Grimm.*
======================
*Euryale checks her phone.*

"...We'll have to try to contact her after the meeting."
======================
*Lilith puts an arm around Thiera & leads her into the room. Once in there, Thiera sucks it up & begins setting up her laptop on the table. Lilith steps back, & looks at everyone else.*

L"You'll want to move your chairs around so that you can see the screen."

Cameron:<The hospital wouldn't tell me how she was doing. Anyway, i hope the shadow didn't get Roatha.>

Eve:<Let's get inside and tell the others.>

*Eve starts walking towards the entrance of the library*

Noct repositions two chairs for herself and Astarte. Sab solemnly follows shuffles in, feeling like the worst person in the world, and takes Astarte's seat.

And so the two move a couple chairs to see the laptop screen.

*Presumably, everyone gathers in this fucking room.*

T"I'm glad you could all make it, except for Nero, who's either ignoring me or missing. I was E-mailed a series of pictures that seem to tie together everything that's going on right now."

Eve:<Let's not waste time. Show us, please.>

Grimm jumped and rolled to his side closest to the door and fired once at the homeless man when he came back to his feet, then turned and dashed for the door which he would try jumping through right foot first with his arms crossed in front of his face.

Both Sab and Noctis assume actually showing those pictures and explaining how it ties everything together is part of the presentation, and so stay quiet.

And so they all wait.

T"The sender used a Gmail account that was already deleted by the time I received the message, identifying themselves as "Unmenschen.">

E"Huh? What's that?"

T"Literally, it translates to 'not-men,' but is generally used to mean 'monsters.' I assume it was intended as a kind of joke. Now, I should warn you, there's no graphic content, but all the same, some of these may be disturbing."

*She begins scrolling down. The first is a photo of Monu with "We have a winner!" scrolled on it in red marker. The 2nd is a picture of Hector, Eduj, & Astarte, as well as a pencil-scrawled drawing of a priest which seems to be inappropriately touching Astarte, with the same marker saying, "Next contestant?" Next comes a man in a ski mask standing in the doorway of the cabin, holding a flashlight to illuminate the fact that he has Roatha's hoodie & backpack. After that comes a few pictures of the Shadow just kind of walking around places; first standing in the corner of Euryale's bedroom at dawn or dusk, then looking into a window at Astarte's house at night, which is backlit by a street light, & finally in Sabroma's kitchen in the morning, where it's pulling out the chef's knife. Finally, it's a snapshot of Tirea in her hospital bed, while the person who's taking it seems to be eating her lunch, judging by the mostly untouched tray at her bedside table, except for the missing sandwich, which is in his other hand with a bite taken out of it--he is wearing black gloves, & so is probably the same man who has Roatha's stuff.*
======================================
*He misses wildly while attempting to be John Wayne, & gives time for the Shadow to catch up with him. When he kicks open the door, the white monster is nowhere to be seen, but tendrils of shadow come bursting out around him, threatening to wrap around him like a sea anemone.*

Azuma: "We're not safe anywhere."

Astarte, now sitting on the other side of Noct, took a deep breath and began nervously rubbing her right cheek as though it had been slapped. Hector furrowed his brow and spoke, "They've drawn a priest like the one we saw... has anybody else seen that guy recently?"

Grimm dropped his shoulders low and leapt out from the door way and towards the bushes and trees, bracing himself to tear through leaves and branches.

Cameron:<No...>

*Cameron stares at the ground, frozen*

Eve:<So the crazy priest guy is next?>

T"Or Eduj, or Astarte, or Hector. I think that's what that picture means. So I think that Tirea's safe for now. For some reason, they seem to want to kill us in a particular order."

L"Well, that's lovely...is this what you saw?"

*She scrolls up to the image of the Shadow holding the knife.*

T"Yes."

L"...I can't believe it's really real."
==========================
*And as he does so, he has no idea what's going on, because it's pitch black & the Shadow doesn't often make noise. He also feels sharp burns simply by passing through the Shadow's tendrils, which are further aggravated when the bushes tear them open.*

<Hahahahahaha! Run, bitch, run! That's all you're good for, isn't it?!>

Cameron:<I'm glad she's safe...>

Eve:<Oh, it's real all right.>

Azuma: "Any idea how to tell who's next?"

OOC: Why would it have to 'translate' if they're already in Germany?

Noct felt a shiver run up her spine when she saw 'Next contestant' next to Astarte's picture. She gave Astarte a worried look, but looked to Hector, "Who exactly is this priest? What is his involvement with all of this?"

Sab, who had still been fighting back tears, can't fight any longer, and finally breaks down at the sight of a monster in her kitchen.

Gabe, who had been mostly silent, pales, "What is this... Why is this even happening? What did we do?"

*Cameron turns back to Noctis*

<That priest's been bothering us since we got back. He nearly got Roatha arrested.>