THIRD TRIAL

[whimsicalism]

THIRD TRIAL

THE CONTAINMENT CENTER

Still hungry, and perhaps with some new fashionable shoe colors, the students are herded into the elevator, which is lined with a plastic tarp this week. With the elevator becoming a perpetually emptier space, there's plenty of room for the Prefect herself to squeeze in next to everyone else, standing at the front of the group and ineffectively covering the side of her head with her free hand as soon as the tearing screen of metal and high-buzzing florescent lights kicks in.

The descent this time takes the group of students past several new chambers. The first is occupied by a grotesque caricature of a lunch lady, who ladles unidentifiable pitch black goop onto a constantly rotating line of trays as she smiles at the group with a single tooth. The clown, ever present for the show with his dwindling collection of balloons, rides a tiny tricycle through pools of spilled acrylic paint, the wheels squeaking as they paint out blood red patterns on the cell floor. The last chamber the students will see before arriving in the trial room is completely empty, save for a cloudy grey fog that blinks inside it like a thundercloud.

Instead of the usual black ram emblem on the telecom screen, the Principal's flame-wreathed silhouette is visible this week, though his chair is turned away from the camera and only the outline of his back seems to be visible. There's an empty container of Rocky Road ice cream sitting next to him on a side table, the spoon still balanced in the carton. The entire trial room itself smells like the lunch time rush at a cafeteria or fast food restaurant, the smells of grilling meat, roasting vegetables, and sweet dessert occasionally passing through a chamber that is completely devoid of any actual food.

With some hesitation, Nanami goes to the desk next to the podiums and takes her old seat. She glances back at the projector screen, then her shoulders slump forward and she leans down against the desk.

"It's happened again. Valmont, the... Boss...Baby. Has been killed. Maybe this really will go on forever, until no one is left... Anyway, you need to find out what happened if you want to live and not starve. ...Don't forget the rules. Get started."

As she finishes speaking a sheep walks around the trial room, handing everyone an apple and some graham crackers. Of course, even Nanami gets a small treat. The Little Brother glances at the shape of Father in his chair before quietly placing a finger to it's robotic face only for the angry voice of your Principal rings out. "Hey! Don't--ah, forget it. That'll get you through the trial. Maybe you'll bust a gut or something. What are you waiting for?! You heard Miss Kiryuu, start already!"

Investigation | Podium Layout | Locations | IC Profiles | IC Rules | IC Evidence Presentation | Evidence List | NPC Questions | Dorm Map | Paint Map

OOC NOTES

Welcome to the third trial! Consider this your reminder to make sure to get in your Week 2 AC by tomorrow's weekly post and to start getting your Week 3 AC ready to submit. Make sure to get your regains in by tomorrow night!

Remember, if you can carry it you probably can bring it. We mainly want to discourage corpse desecration, if we can, so while the body itself isn't allowed into the trial most things are. If your character has access to a piece of evidence and you don't know if you can bring it in, you can either ask the mods privately if that's possible or by pinging them in the post itself. If a piece of evidence is forgotten, you can either assume retroactively that someone did or that the sheep brought it in to make sure that everything is tidy.

As always, just put MODS in the header of your comment to get our attention for any clarification.

Good luck!

Comments

[copycut]

If that was her intent, why would she kill someone else? Like Carrie said... If it came to that, one of us could commit suicide instead. Then all the rest of us would have to do is confirm it.

[canreallymove]

Well, probably because stuff like, uh, suicide is pretty obvious normally? And we're supposed to "work" for our food or whatever stupid reasoning the Principal likes to impose on us. He was way past mad Ed caved, after all. And if you kill yourself, you can't exactly mess with the crime scene after you die...

torture description cw

[holyironmade]

You are slightly underestimating my knowledge of torture devices.

The iron maiden is not the only one.

There is the chair, the thumbscrew... Parts of the body ending up where they are not supposed to be.

There is also the possibility of drawing blood in another room followed by the coup de gras somewhere else.

[She finally brings herself to look at Kuro immediately by her side.]

However... I cannot simply urge you to take Kuro at her word, to confirm she sees my heart. Because in that contingency, as I said, that brave soul's heart absolutely must stay hidden.

[canreallymove]

...

........

Look, I'm just gonna point out that saying I'm underestimating your knowledge and saying "There is also the possibility of drawing blood in another room followed by the coup de gras somewhere else" doesn't exactly put you in a more innocent light here. Somethin' to keep in mind if other people start to accuse you of this or anything else in the future.

[In other words: Jeanne is still a suspect to him unless something more plausible comes up.]

[copycut]

[ —! ]

Then, what? You're not as naive as I thought? I've been saying all this time that you don't really know what it means to shoulder all the world's suffering— Was I wrong?

[holyironmade]

It must stay hidden. The sweetness must not be tasted.

[She's making some weird riff on "amai" as naive? Maybe she's hungry... It's very ambiguous. She turns back to the crowd.]

I will flatter Kuro as she has flattered me. I doubt her involvement in this crime. There were enough of us apologizing for the motive that I believe she could take advantage of us and continue to "selfishly" live as she says herself.

[copycut]

[ Still, Kuro's hands are balling up at her sides. ]

No, Jeanne— Confirm something for me. Taking on the burden of humanity's suffering... In the end, doing that will always force you to sacrifice the few for the many. Have you already accepted that reality?

[holyironmade]

It is never as simple as the few or the many. The evil must be punished for the good to live. The good choose to die for the greater good.

...it is that way for my hostage last week, Lyserg...

To fail to recognize reality... is evil itself. That is what the law is for. So no mistake can be made and excused.

[violence_ensues]

mmmmDo you think dying so no one else would starve is for the greater good...?

[holyironmade]

It was not I who called it inevitable that a murder would occur. Did a single person seriously doubt this? I doubted it more than anyone, because I knew it was possible to survive until Friday and see if that would disrupt Father's ancient Babylonian ritual. I am proof. Hear my ailing voice. I have not had the apples and crackers.

After that time passed... is a different matter.

[copycut]

[ Somehow, Kuro manages to simultaneously relax and tense up with that reply. Her jaw tightens, but— ]

...I see. Then it's the way I thought. That means...

[ ... ]

Valmont's letter was the first you heard of his intentions, wasn't it?

[ She, too, doubts Jeanne could have managed such a clean kill with a bladed weapon. Still, she has to pursue the line of thought—that Valmont was struck down by an overzealous interloper, unable to forgive a transgression. ]

[canreallymove]

...

[He's watching this conversation silently, because. Yeah.]

[holyironmade]

[Jeanne finally produces the small note, though she only shows it to Kuro for now, gripped tightly: "I want to talk about the two of us", followed by her own (girlishly round) underline, arrow, and question mark.]

I thought that this was all he wanted at the time.

[copycut]

[ Kuro leans in. Her own voice is quiet. Girl talk...? ]

So did he ask you to meet anywhere?

[holyironmade]

No...

[Her head sways a bit. She's like a doll who can barely keep the smile on.]

We were passing notes under the door. We had discussed the need for this in front of everyone at the meeting. To conserve energy. I eventually conveyed the desire to harmonize our wills later. I... [and this, she whispers] couldn't bear to contemplate the threat to my chastity much longer.

[hashtagwoof]

... You we're going to date him. You fell in love and wanted to date him. Is that what you mean to say?

[ He can't think of anything else she could be implying here. ]

[whimsicalism]

[You can't tell but Father is covering his ears. What is wrong with these children?!]

[cellpreservation]

We have to go through trial and everything if we actually want food again, though.

[copycut]

It's still someone winding up dead. You don't think he'd make us go through with it, even if it was someone ending their own life? He'd have to, otherwise— What if someone tried to cover up by staging a suicide instead?

[ She's just saying it would really be tipping his hand on a way someone could cover up a murder they've done!! ]

[cellpreservation]

Ugh, that's true...

...

Hey, principal or sheep or someone! If there was a death by suicide, would we still have a trial to figure out they killed themselves?

[whimsicalism]

[Father leans over from his chair. His golden eyes flash angrily.]

Of course. Do you think I'd miss the chance to get rid of you brats?

[violence_ensues]

Wait... if y'all want all of us to be gone, why not just let the monsters from outside to come inside?

[whimsicalism]

I want you dead, I don't want them to destroy the building! Do you know how much money that'd cost to fix?

[Gasp!]

[violence_ensues]

...

A bazillion?

[whimsicalism]

Exactly! This stupid game might take longer but at least it's cheaper.