Welcome to Gaia! ::

One could practically hear the proverbial clock ticking in the background as the same proverbial soothing ten hours of background music continued to play.

All in all, other than a few trainees humming, a few others hawing, and most checking their cell phones, it was really awkwardly strange and quiet, almost as if a certain someone was purposely keeping the trainees prisoner in the room for god knows what reason.

A few trainees probably were wondering at this point if re-reading the same mission message for hidden clues was something on the agenda. Well, there were a few cryptic words in the message not to mention-

- Caelius's cell phone buzzed loudly, the Death Hunter lead deliberately waiting on the second buzz before slowly plucking the phone off the table. He waited.

"I see." Another pause, and then a rare expression, a very slow sort of smile, reminiscent to some of the elder trainees back in the old days when it was all about throwing them out like carrion and letting the Fear vultures pick at them, when each and every room meant some sort of test to tear at each others' throats. "If the rest of the Council has not, as they promised, been monitoring my every action, then I am sure I have several trainees more than willing to testify my presence at Room 201B." Another pause. "The information packet provided detailing Insanity explains very clearly its effects on the psyche, this does not magically discount senior members of the Council."

There was a loud rap at the door, a Death Hunter standing there with rapt attention, face grim, if not alarmed. "Sir, you are needed down at the site immediately to-"

- "The escort is here."

Click.

Once again, the Death Hunter lead's expression was entirely neutral as he followed the other Hunter down the hall, though for any trainee following outside, it was not difficult to tell what exactly was going on despite the crowd of Hunters circling around ground zero.

An unmoving hanging body, an older gentleman, face entirely unfamiliar to any of the trainees hanging from the the iron-cast chandelier on the ceiling, where the wall arched and domed upwards to the main stairwell, neck decorated with thick rope.

It would do well for people to remember where they stood.

Deryk didn't really know what was going on here, and the one sided conversation he and the other trainees heard did not really help all that much. Watching the leader walk on out of the room, he glanced towards the others quietly and let his curiosity take over. He went on and followed only to freeze as he spotted the hanging body there. He paled a bit at the sight, then quickly turned away.

"You... you don't think.. someone set this up do you?" he murmured towards Jordan, who was the closest trainee to him right now.

"Hard to say," Jordan answered quietly. "I'd be willing to bet that they're not going to be able to pin it on anyone, anyway."

Caelius... was that a smile? That was not a nice smile at all. The words that Otto heard him say felt strange. Something was up. Something was off. He didn't trust the division lead to begin with. He'd done a lot of things to put him on his s**t-list.

Once he was out of the room, Otto got up and intended to head back down to the bunker. However, the crowd immediately had his attention. He moved toward it, stopping at the edge ad looking up at what others seemed to stare at.

The sight that befell him was horribly haunting.

Otto had seen a sea of bodies, he'd seen people get killed, he'd seen bodies laid out read for embalming. Growing up in a funeral home, bodies were a usual thing. He'd seen a lot. Somehow though, that lone body hanging from a chandelier really got to him. The young trainee paled, fascinated by morbid curiosity yet disturbed. Apparently it was a Council member. A big wig in hunter terms.

But connecting the dots from the conversation Caelius had on the phone, it almost seemed like he knew this happened.

Otto felt horribly uncomfortable, so the teenager slipped away from the crowd, heading back to the bunker to chill out.

Ofelia had been listening to Rep and Leon fight like cats and dogs, something really stupid in the back of her mind, when the mission whatever was given to her on her phone (she'd figure out how to read it later) and then everyone was all kinds of somber, serious, and wait now the phone was ringing again and the death-guy was asking everyone to be his alibi?

. . . . why did he need an alibi, unless he had this all planned and had something else in store for people? That was a creepy thought and Ofelia rubbed the goosebumps that had sprung on her bare arms. The teen didn't like the idea that she was being used for something else, maybe to cover something else, so when everyone started to get up and move she followed without much complaint.

Then she saw the dead body.

Then it suddenly made sense why he said he wanted them all the be able to verify that he'd been in the room with them the entire time. Was that the reason for the delay, had he been setting this up somehow? For some reason or another Ofelia was more confused than not, but not the confusion that came with worry - more or less the confusion of how the hell did the body get that high coupled with this is like a murder mystery now kinda exciting actually.

The way people around her were acting this person must have been important? They were pretty old, judging by the level of age that most hunters and trainees seemed to be (the whole idea of dying young hadn't really clicked in) so maybe they were some kind of main boss? Did someone kill them in order to advance up the ranks, or was this just dissent within? Either way this whole affair had her interest now, even if it was somewhat scattered and she was more or less wondering how someone even got rope.

She hadn't seen much rope on the island, that was for certain. When a pair of people near her started to talk she shuffled over to them, grinning at first Jordan and then at Deryk. "Makes ya wonder who the guy is an' what he did ta get the short drop, fast stop."

"Insanity's a definite possibility too," Jordan agreed, still keeping his voice down.

When Ofelia approached, he nodded to her. "It's probable that it'll be declared suicide, possibly due to the lingering Insanity effects," he said neutrally. "I'm sure they're not going to find any evidence otherwise. It could be the case."

Glancing between Jordan and Ofelia, Deryk nodded slowly. Regardless if this was a suicide or if something darker was at hand, it wasn't really something caused by the Halloween creatures. Well. If Insanity played a role, he guessed they could have been involved indirectly. Even then.. the idea that it could push someone over the edge was kind of daunting. Regardless, there was just something about this that rubbed him the wrong way.. especially with the prospects of murder. Could more end up like this soon?

"Don't like this. Doesn't feel right. Not just me right?" he asked them quietly.